


Everyday Heroes

by Oripoke



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/F, Mystery, Super Max, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 10:37:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 92,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12910152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oripoke/pseuds/Oripoke
Summary: In the futuristic city of New Arcadia, persons with superhuman abilities are a part of everyday life. When the city's most beloved hero Tempest disappears under mysterious circumstances, the only ones who can solve the mystery of her vanishing are rookie photojournalist Max Caulfield, and Chloe Price, her childhood friend who has a dark secret of her own.After Max awakens to a strange new power within herself, together they will need to confront troublesome heroes, sinister villains, and a new synthetic drug called Vortex if they are to uncover the depths of a conspiracy that will affect the fate of everyone and everything they know...





	1. Day Zero

**Author's Note:**

> Hello you wonderful people :)
> 
> It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... a new AU fanfic by yours truly! This is the third fic I have written for this fandom after finishing my previous story, [I've Got You Under My Skin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11403255/chapters/25541310). This was my NaNoWriMo 2017 project so I have quite a lot written already that I am looking forward to sharing. I plan to edit and post a new chapter each week.
> 
> As the title and tags suggest, this is an Action / Mystery / Sci-fi AU story in a Superhero setting, because clearly we don't have enough comics, movies, and TV shows about those. Superheroes are one of my absolute favorite tropes so I've been long awaiting my chance to combine it with _Life is Strange_. If this sounds like your cup of tea, read on!
> 
> Disclaimer: _Life is Strange_ and _Life is Strange: Before the Storm_ are properties of DontNod and DeckNine. I own none of these characters  & I promise to put them all back neatly when I'm done.
> 
> Now then: up, up and away!

_"Following the events that occurred 50 years ago in the small community of Arcadia Bay on October 11th, 2013, persons with augmented abilities began appearing among the general populace. The emergence of such persons, termed 'metahumans', has resulted in widespread social upheaval. Our society has never been the same since they arrived in our midst."_

\- Mark Jefferson, "The Origin of Metahumans"

\---

The underground metro station was grimy and hot, and the whooshing of giant fans did very little to help with the muggy atmosphere as Max Caulfield descended the stairs to the platform of the station. Clutching her brand new, high-end digital camera close to her chest, she tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. Fortunately, being inconspicuous was something that came easily to her. She had built her career as a photographer on being like a shadow, unassuming and unmemorable, so that her camera would tell the story for her. Invisibility may as well be her very own super power.

 _It shouldn't be too hard to find, right?_ she thought to herself, while scanning the faces of people gathered there. Her intel was reliable, and with patience, she was sure she'd find her mark. All she needed was to look for someone with glowing eyes...

She tucked her body into a corner beside the escalator. Its filthy walls were adorned with stickers and graffiti tags, covered in written phrases like **Tempest is my girlfriend** and **Heroes R human too!** This type of visual pollution was a common sight throughout New Arcadia city. More like territorial markings than art, it made the city's public spaces feel even more crowded than they already were.

As she was thinking this, a particular doodle on the wall caught her eye: a tiny yet detailed drawing of a butterfly, its wings colored a brilliant blue that seemed to reflect the light around it. It was a tiny spot of beauty on this otherwise dim and dirty underground platform. The intricate artistry of the markings on its wings and the vivid color made her photographer's instinct flare up.

She reminded herself that she was here for her work, and didn't have time to mess about with taking pictures for fun, but as she was thinking this she was already raising the camera to snap a photo. The shutter gave a satisfying click, and within moments the digital display showed the image of the blue butterfly, glowing against the backdrop of the graffiti wall. Pleased with how it turned out, she brought her camera up to her eyes again and this time turned it towards the platform.

Hidden away like this, Max could play the voyeur without drawing attention to herself. The zoom function on her new camera captured every detail down to individual hairs on peoples' heads. She used it to scan the crowd, searching the faces of every person that was waiting for the train to arrive. To her disappointment, none of them showed any signs of what she was looking for. But that was all right. Staking out a scene was what being an investigative photojournalist was all about.

A rumble in the distance signaled that a train would be arriving soon. With a screech of brakes and a rush of air, the train emerged from the tunnel and slowed to a stop at the platform. Its doors opened and commuters poured out. Max zoomed out and carefully tried to scan the faces of every person who emerged from the train. _Come on, come on..._

 _There!!_ One of the people who stepped off the train and onto the platform had a black hoodie pulled over their head, shielding themselves from view. But before they turned their face away, Max spotted it: two pin-pricks of bright light, shining from within their eyes.

 _I found you,_ she thought, lowering her camera. The hooded figure was heading in the opposite direction, towards the stairs on the far side of the platform.

"You're not getting away that easy," she murmured to herself as she slipped out of her nook and started weaving her way through the crowd after the person with glowing eyes. She bumped shoulders with a few commuters, drawing an irate shout or two from the people she carelessly pushed aside in pursuit of her target. _It doesn't matter,_ she told herself. _This is more important!_

She reached the bottom of the stairs just as the hooded figure had reached the top and was turning the corner. Taking a deep breath, she sprinted up the stairs, two at a time. Her heart was pounding in her throat as she reached the top of the stairs. The adrenaline from the chase surged in her blood, its taste metallic in her mouth. She scanned the upper floor, with the ticket gates and exits to street level, trying to see where her target had gone.

Footsteps pounding on concrete caused her head to turn. Her target was sprinting towards the street-level exit. _Oh, crap,_ she thought. They must have spotted her following them. But she wasn't going to give up that easily. This was her scoop; she was going to prove to the New Arcadia Times that _this_ rookie photojournalist was more than just some wannabe instagram hipster.

Vaulting over the subway turnstile, she ran out the exit in pursuit of the hooded figure with glowing eyes. She emerged from the subway exit into a public park that was filled with pedestrians. Outdoors, the fresh sea breeze intermingled with car exhaust and the smell of pine needles, a combination of scents that seemed unique to New Arcadia City. Max felt a wave of nostalgia, but she didn't have time to reminisce -- the hooded person was getting away. She spotted them ducking into a side alleyway, the shining points of light in their eyes turning away from her as they caught her looking.

Max sprinted after them, cutting across the middle of the street. The sound of tires squealing on concrete echoed behind her as a car slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting her. "Sorry!" she called over her shoulder as she ducked into the alleyway. The stench of garbage and sewage was more prominent here. The alleyway ended in a dead-end, and her target was nowhere in sight.

She swore under her breath and scanned the area for potential sources of egress. A rattling from above caused her to glance upwards. The hooded figure was climbing the fire escape, heading towards the roof of the building. How did they get up there so fast?

The first level of the fire escape was elevated about ten feet off the ground, but if she climbed on top of that dumpster, she could reach it if she jumped. Max took a deep breath. _Here goes nothing,_ she thought as she used her meagre upper-body strength to pull herself up on top of the dumpster. The metal dented inward underneath her feet. The ladder to the next level of the fire escape was raised, but if she jumped, she could just barely grab it. She bent her knees and, taking a flying leap, grabbed the metal bar. The ladder came down with a clatter and she scrambled up onto the first landing. Above, the hooded figure with glowing eyes was getting away.

She found herself wishing she was in better physical condition as she sprinted up the stairs. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps, each inhale burning her lungs. From one of the windows of the apartment complex, one of the residents was peering at her curiously, wondering about the source of the ruckus on the fire escape. But this was New Arcadia, where chaos was pracitcally routine.

Finally, she reached the top landing. The hooded person had disappeared onto the roof of the building. If she wanted to pursue them, Max would need to figure out how to get up there herself. It was about a ten-foot vertical rise from the landing on the fire escape, but she could probably stand on the windowsill for an eight-foot leap, or... she glanced over at the railing on the edge. It was risky, but if she stood on that, she could grab the edge of the roof, then shimmy over to the window and maybe use its frame to push herself up over the top.

Time to break out her hardcore parkour skills. She braced herself against the brick exterior of the apartment complex. She swung the strap of her camera around so that it was hanging against her back. Then she pushed off the rim of a potted plant and placed one foot on the edge of the railing. By extending her fingertips, she could just barely gain purchase on the lip of the roof. _If I fall here, it'll really fuck up my camera,_ she thought, and then reflected on how messed-up her priorities were. By placing the other foot on the edge of the windowsill, she was able to get a better grasp on the edge of the roof.

Grunting with exertion, she hauled her body up so that her torso was over the edge of the roof and the toes of her shoes were touching the top of the window's frame. There was a mortifying second where one of her feet started to slip, but then she was able to regain her footing. With all her strength, she pulled her entire body up over the edge of the roof and finally landed on solid ground again. She gulped in air as she caught her breath and tried to ignore the burning in her legs, arms, and lungs. As she blinked away the dark spots in her vision, she looked out at the roof around her.

The person in the hoodie was standing there, not moving, watching her. This close, Max could tell that they were slender, dressed in nearly all-black, with a bandana covering their nose and mouth that bore the image of a skeletal bird's beak. A few strands of hair were poking out from the edges of the hoodie, an unnatural shade of green or blue. They were wearing goggles over their eyes, which failed to completely mask the lights that were shining from within.

"Why the fuck are you following me?!" the person in the hoodie asked. Their voice was androgynous, but vaguely feminine, which threw Max for a loop because she had been mentally picturing a man. "You with the Hero Association?"

Max held up her hands. "I'm not," she said, trying to seem as non-threatening as possible. "I'm a civilian."

"Then what're you doing chasing after me? Fuckin' weirdo..." They shifted their weight from side-to-side, as though preparing to run, although there was nowhere for them to go. The only exits to the roof were back down the fire escape behind Max, or through a door hatch that appeared to be padlocked. Any other route, she was sure, would lead to certain death.

Max considered her options. Saying she was an investigative journalist would probably not go over great. Might as well leverage what little knowledge she had at her disposal. Straightening herself up to her full height of five foot two, and attempting to summon up her most badass-sounding voice, she told the figure, "I'm here because I'm after Vortex."

"Who told you about that?!" The tone of the person's voice slid up an octave; Max's question had clearly caught them off-guard. "I got jack shit to do with that stuff."

"You don't have to lie. I know you've got some," Max said, feeling a thrill of power as she slipped into the edgy alter-ego she'd concocted for herself on the spot. She pointed to her own eyes, then to the hooded figure's glowing ones.

"Really? Aw, fuck..." They looked aside. "I was so sure these goggles would help."

"It's not your fault, I have sharp eyes," Max said. She tried to take a calm, level approach. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna report you. I just... really need to get my hands on some Vortex."

The hooded figure narrowed their eyes at Max. "You don't look like a junkie," they said. "Take my advice: don't mess around with that stuff. You're too young and pretty to get caught up in that shit."

"It's not for me," Max said. "It's for... my boss. He really, really needs it, but he doesn't want to... get his hands dirty, so he sent me after it instead," she lied. "I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

The person in the hoodie considered this. "Get a new job, then," they said.

"I can't," Max said. "Please, even just a little bit is fine. I'll pay." That was a lie, too -- she had maybe $20 on her person at the time, and not much money otherwise. But the person in the hoodie didn't know that.

"Sorry," the hooded figure said with a shrug. "I don't actually have anything on me right now. Even if I did, I'm not allowed to sell it myself. You'd have to go to Dogcatcher for that. I'm just running an errand." They turned to one side and shouted into the air, "That's the last time I work for you in broad daylight, you fucking idiot!"

"Okay," Max said, taking a step forward. "Give me Dogcatcher's number then."

"Nuh-uh. If you don't already have it, then I'm not giving you nothin'. People get his contact on a need-to-know basis. You don't need to know."

"I used to have his number," Max said. "Or, well, my boss did, but then he changed phones. Dealers, am I right?" She nodded and tried to look sympathetic.

The hooded figure crossed their arms. "You got persistence, kid, I'll give you that."

"It's what I'm known for." Max shrugged. "But I'm sure that Dogcatcher will be happy to hear you turned away a potential customer. I suppose drug business is booming, so what's the difference of a couple thousand? Or even ten grand?"

"There's no way you have that kinda dough," said the person in the hoodie.

"I don't, but my boss definitely does," Max said. "Did you know that the higher-ups in Prescott Industries make even more than Heroes do? I just thought that was interesting..."

"Prescott Industries? Well, shit... now I see what you mean," they said. They seemed at an impasse; they rocked forward on their toes and back on their heels. "...If I run, you'll just chase after me again, won't you."

"Yep," said Max, smugly.

"Gotta say, I'm pretty impressed a normie like you even made it up here in the first place. You don't have even a little bit of juice in you, right?" They shrugged. "I wasn't lying when I said I haven't got any, though. They gave me a micro-dose of the stuff so that I could make it across town in time to deliver a package. And now you've made me late, so, thanks for that, girlie."

"So it makes you... faster, and stronger?" Max asked, leaning in.

"...And high, yeah," they said. Then they seemed to realize what they were admitting to and took a step back. "But you didn't hear any of that from me."

"Of course, I already knew that," Max lied.

"Right, well, because you're fucking crazy and you'll keep chasing me no matter what... here's what I can do." The hooded figure walked towards Max, which set her heart racing even though she was still technically in control. "I'll set you up with a time and place to meet up. Me or one of Dogcatcher's guys will meet you there with the stuff. Two G's worth, no less. And if you flake, or if you're lying..." they paused for dramatic effect. "It'd be a shame if anything had to happen to that pretty face of yours."

"O-okay," Max said, trying to hide the fact that she was trembling in her shoes. The person in the hoodie got out a scrap of paper and a pen from their pocket and started to write on it. Then they tore the piece of paper and approached Max to hand it over.

"Friday night, ten P.M. Behind the Two Whales Diner. Don't be la--" they paused, as if they had just noticed something, and withdrew the slip of paper. "Wait a minute. What's that on your back?"

"It's — not important," Max said. She had a bad feeling about this.

"Is that a fucking camera?!" Their demeanor instantly became hostile. "You fucking snitch. You're not looking for drugs — you're a reporter, aren't you?"

Fuck. "I-it's just a hobby, I swear," Max said, although hearing her own voice, she wouldn't believe the words she was saying, either.

"Don't lie to me. How do I know you haven't been recording this shit the entire time?!"

"I — I wasn't--" Max spluttered.

The hooded figure lunged forward. They grabbed Max's wrist, twisting it painfully. Up close, Max could see more clearly the wisps of blue hair sticking out from underneath their hoodie. Their glowing eyes shone out with burning anger, irises electric azure, pupils blown wide as the lights of Vortex shined through.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you off this roof," they growled.

"B-because... murder is wrong?" Max said, desperately.

The figure glared at her. Their skin felt hot against Max's wrists, and as they twisted her arm she let out a cry of pain.

In that moment, the person's attitude changed completely. They loosened their grip on Max, who recoiled, clutching her wrist to her body. A look of confusion and surprise flashed across their shining eyes as they stared at her in astonishment.

"Can't be... Max?"

"How did you know my—" Max began to say, when they were interrupted by an explosion.

Over to their left, in the public park Max had passed through just minutes ago, a large plume of smoke was rising into the sky. Vicious winds blew from out of nowhere, whipping the smoke into a funnel, and rising out of that funnel was a human figure. The person wore a hooded cape, and her hands and eyes were glowing with orange light. Flames and ice crystals swirled around her as the winds held her body in mid-air.

Judging by her red and black costume, the horned mask she wore and the distinctive logo of the Hero Association on her cape, there could be no mistaking her identity.

"Tempest," Max gasped in amazement, as she beheld New Arcadia City's number one Hero in full display of her awesome abilities.

More flickers of light came from within the cloud of smoke, illuminating it from within. With an electric snap, several bolts of purple-colored lightning shot out, colliding with the ground in bursts of bright light and flame. Another figure strode out of the smoke. Their body was covered in rippling arcs of purple electricity, and their head and hair seemed to be completely engulfed in a steadily burning purple flame. Yellow eyes shone out from within the bright hot core of the fire. As Max watched, the figure began to slowly rise up above ground. They appeared to be lifted by their own internal magnetism as they rose to the same height as Tempest. Electricity crackled down their arms as they extended a hand towards the Hero, sending a bolt of lightning flying just past her to crash into the side of the apartment complex where Max and the hooded figure were standing.

Max knew she had to act fast. This was a _way_ better opportunity than chasing down Vortex. This was the kind of photo op that most photojournalists spend their entire lives waiting for, and she had just happened to stumble into it. She shifted her camera from behind her back, and pointed it at the two metahumans who were flinging bolts of lightning and fire at each other.

 _Wowsers. Tempest is amazing,_ Max thought as she snapped a photo. Her high-res camera captured Tempest mid-attack, flames burning in the palm of her hand, her cape billowing out behind her as it was blown by the gale-force winds. _No wonder she's number one..._ Tempest's incredible powers over the elements of wind, fire, and storm, on top of her beautiful looks and effortless style, made her the idol of countless heroes and civilians alike. Of the popular Hero rankings which were published weekly in her paper, Tempest always took the top spot.

She then turned the lens of her camera on the person levitating opposite Tempest. They hung in the air ominously, floating as though unaffected by gravity. Arcs of lightning danced across their body, occasionally leaping to the ground to spark a blaze. Their facial features were completely obscured by the purple fire burning upwards from their collar, but with her camera's incredible zoom, Max could see that they appeared to be wearing a three-piece suit.

That must be a Villain, but Max didn't recognize them from the wanted bulletins that were released by the Hero Association. The Villain appeared to be toying with Tempest, tossing out intermittent bolts of lightning in her direction with an air of nonchalance. _That's strange,_ she thought to herself. Whatever this villain's powers were, they were going toe-to-toe with the top Hero in the city, and they didn't seem to be fazed by their adversary at all. If anything, Tempest seemed to be having a harder time of it, narrowly swooping out of the way of the villain's lightning-fast bolt strikes.

Max chewed her lip. _There's no way she'll lose, right?_ She worried as Tempest hurled an arc of flame towards the Villain, who dodged it with ease. Beneath them, the once-peaceful public park was quickly becoming a sea of fire. Smoke was rising up from below, making it more and more difficult for Max to take clear photos. The scent of ozone and the sounds of screams filled the air.

A hand on Max's shoulder caused her to break her concentration and turn to look. The person in the hoodie was shaking her. "Are you fucking crazy Max? At this rate, they're gonna level the whole city block! We gotta run!"

"I—I can't," Max said, clutching her camera. The fact that the person in the hoodie knew her name was bizarre, but she didn't have time to dwell on it now. "I need to photograph this."

"Fuck that," said the person in the hoodie. "Do you have a death wish? We gotta get down from here, now!"

"Weren't you just threatening to throw me off this building yourself?" Max pointed out. The person glared at her and said nothing. Max half-expected them to bolt, but they seemed to freeze, hovering by her side as though they were unwilling to abandon her. _What was this punk's deal?_

Ignoring their warnings, Max trained her camera on the scene down below. As she did, she picked out a third figure moving through the smoke. From the speed this person was moving and the way they were rapidly approaching the fight instead of running away, Max deduced that this person must be another Hero. Finally, the Association had sent in reinforcements.

Just in time, since Tempest was rapidly losing the upper hand in the fight. Max gasped in horror as a bolt of lightning struck Tempest squarely in the chest, launching her backwards and sending her crashing into the face of a clock that was overlooking the city square. As the dust and rubble cleared, she struggled to disentangle herself and her cape from the jagged hole that the impact created in the wall.

From down below, the hero who had just arrived on the scene began to rise up, lifted by bursts of flame from the jetpack he wore on his back. Max stared at him in fascination through the lens of her camera. His whole body was covered in a high-tech, cybernetic exoskeleton, and he carried in his arms a sleek, electronic rifle, which bore the logo of Prescott Industries. Most notably, unlike most heroes, he wore no mask over his face.

"Aw, shit," said the hooded figure by Max's side. "...that's Nathan Prescott."

"...Prescott?" Max zoomed in on his face. Sure enough, the scion of Prescott Industries had made an appearance. Max recalled the last article that had been published about him in the _Times_. Apparently he didn't have any innate superhuman abilities, but because his father owned the biggest tech and research firm in the city, he had cutting-edge equipment tailor-made for him to do Hero work.

"He's gonna back her up," Max said. "With two Heroes, they can definitely take this guy down..."

Nathan rose up on his jetpack until he was at eye level with Tempest and the villain. He hovered there, brandishing his rifle but not taking any action yet. The three appeared to be staring each other down.

Max frowned. Nathan had his laser rifle. He could just stun the villain with it. Why wasn't he doing anything? Max zoomed in on Nathan's maskless face, getting a clear view of his troubled expression. He was frowning and shaking his head. Tempest had picked herself out from the rubble and was shouting something, although Max didn't have a clue what she was saying.

Then the Villain raised an arm, pointing towards Tempest. Max watched as Nathan raised his rifle and cocked it. Then he swung it around, pointing it it not at the Villain, but at Tempest herself. A bolt of blinding light came from the barrel, striking Tempest directly in the torso. She crumpled, and at Max's side, the person in the hoodie gave a horrified gasp.

"No!" they shouted, then fell to their knees. "No... not her..."

Max couldn't focus on the reaction of the person by her side, though, because she was busy watching the remaining two figures. Nathan and the Villain appeared to be conversing about something.

Then her stomach dropped like a stone as they both turned to face towards her and the hooded punk.

"Shit," Max said, lowering her camera. The burning yellow eyes of the villain were staring directly at her. Her body locked up as she was paralyzed by fear. Dread filled her as the villain slowly raised an arm and pointed, not at her, but at the person in the hoodie standing next to her.

Nathan Prescott raised his rifle again. Steam vented out its sides as the tip glowed bright white before discharging a piercing beam of light. Max watched in pure horror as the rifle shot collided directly with the person in the hoodie, tearing into their stomach. The force of the impact caused them to be thrown backwards, across the roof of the apartment complex. As it did, their goggles shattered and their hood lifted off their head, revealing the face of a young woman with bright blue hair.

She collapsed on the ground, light and life fading from her eyes, as blood spilled out from the wound in her gut.

"No!!" Max shouted, and reached out a hand towards the blue haired girl.

As she did, it felt as though the walls of reality rippled around her. Before her eyes, she beheld an impossible sight: the dead girl lifted up off the floor. Blood drops, shards of glass and rubble reversed their direction from the explosion. The light of the laser moved backwards, returning to the barrel of the rifle.

Time was reversing itself before Max's eyes, like someone had pressed a rewind button on all of reality.

Her head spun with the impossibility of what she was seeing as events reversed themselves, moving backwards faster and faster, until everything around her became a white blur as she lost consciousness.


	2. Day One - Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dawning of a strange day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone that commented on Chapter 1!  
> We're just getting started, now. Hope you enjoy what's to come.

_ "Shortly after the first metahuman was discovered, the Hero phenomenon began to spread throughout the nation, in large thanks to popular culture and mass media. A Hero is everything the public wants: a paragon of virtue, a celebrity, a living demigod. But Heroes, at the end of the day, are human just like the rest of us. Such a high-profile, dangerous job does not come without significant risks." _

\- Mark Jefferson,  _ "The Origin of Metahumans" _

\---

To say that Max was confused when she woke up in her own bed the next morning would be an understatement.

It took her several minutes before she was able to separate her waking self from hazy dream-thoughts enough to fully comprehend that she was, in fact, lying in her own bed inside her apartment. It was another minute after that before she remembered what she'd just witnessed, standing at the top of an apartment complex in the middle of downtown New Arcadia.

Chasing the girl in the hoodie... the explosive battle between Tempest and that unknown Villain... Nathan Prescott's appearance... seeing Tempest and the blue haired girl get shot... and then time seemingly reversing itself... it all seemed like a fever dream. And she had no memory of any of the events following that. It had been daytime when last she could recall. She got out her phone and checked the date and time; sure enough, it was 8:02 AM the following day.

_ There's at least fifteen hours that I don't remember, _ she wondered, sitting up in bed. She winced as she felt a pounding headache in her temple. She scratched at an itch beneath her nose, and her fingers rubbed away the dark brown of dried blood.  _ Weird, _ she thought.  _ Did I get a nosebleed in my sleep? Gotta get that checked out... _

Craziness or not, she needed to show up in the office by 9 AM. She dragged herself out of bed and wandered into the tiny bathroom. Staring at herself in the mirror, her face and hair looked like a total mess. She shucked off her clothes and stood in the shower, letting the hot-and-cold water run over her body and trying not to think of the blue-haired girl bleeding out on the roof.

_ Who was she? How did she know my name? _ Max wondered. When she'd been given an assignment to track and document the spread of the new synthetic drug Vortex, she hadn't expected things to escalate so quickly. But then again, this was New Arcadia City. She knew what she was getting into when she moved back here. But growing up in New Arcadia as a kid and living and working there as an adult were two very different things.

_ This place has changed _ , Max thought as she stepped out of the shower and ran a towel through her plain brown hair, wringing out water droplets. The old neighborhood she remembered from her childhood was gone, after an out-of-control fire had burned a quarter of the city to ash, five years prior but two years after her family had relocated up north to Seattle. After the fire, the Prescotts had swiftly re-developed the area into high-rise apartments. Actually, she was pretty sure that Prescott Industries owned most of the real estate in the city by now. It seemed wherever anyone went in New Arcadia, it was difficult to escape their influence.

Max's apartment was just two blocks away from where her childhood home had been, but other than the street name, nothing about it was familiar. It was one of more than a hundred units in the complex, a tiny studio built for one, sleek and modern and modular. Shiny chrome walls and fold-out tables made economical use of limited space and ambient light. It felt stark, clean, and cold, although she'd done what she could to spruce up its interior by decorating the walls with some of her favorite photos and posters.

Framed above the kitchen table was her first front-page spread, from when she'd worked as a photographer for the school paper in college. It depicted a dramatic scene from a student-led protest, where students and cops were having an angry verbal confrontation. The issue at hand had been metahuman rights; the school had recently passed a ban on persons with augmented abilities from using them on campus. Between all the media buzz around Heroes and the recent attempts to legislate and regulate metahumans, emotions were running high. And whenever that happened, it was Max's duty to be there, with a camera.

Her digital assistant reminded her that it was 8:30, and she should leave if she wanted to catch the metro to get into work on time. She grabbed a granola bar out of a box in the cabinet, and then scanned the apartment for her camera.

Her... camera.

Her brand-new, fancy, and expensive digital camera. The most valuable thing she owned.

The one thing that was entirely missing from her apartment, nowhere to be seen.

Max fell to her knees, covered her face and mouth with her hands, and screamed into them for several minutes.

\---

Max's ride on the metro was especially unpleasant that day.

The morning commute on the New Arcadia metro was usually crowded, as commuters came from out of town into the heart of the city. The metro system had been built in the 20's, and therefore was not as old as in Seattle or Los Angeles, but since the place had become a hub of tech, shipping, trade, media, and metahuman- and Hero-related activity, overcrowding was inevitable.

Max sat crammed in a seat in between a woman talking loudly into her wristband and an enormous man wearing a sports jersey. She clutched her bag containing her tablet computer to her chest and stared dead ahead, despair filling her vision. She wasn't even looking at her phone to read the daily news headlines.

_ I've lost my camera,  _ she thought.  _ I can't do my job without it. And I lost the photos I took. _ Those pictures she'd taken, of Tempest and the villain and Nathan... those were the proof she needed to tell her that that whole day had been anything besides a fever dream. But the fact remained... it was one full day later, and she had no idea how much of that had even happened. Nor did she have anything to show for it.

_ What will I tell them in the office today,  _ she thought desperately. Her boss was going to ask her for updates on the Vortex case. What could she say? That she chased some person up to the top of a building, almost arranged a drug deal, then got caught in the middle of a battle between metahumans? She sighed. Without photographic evidence to prove it, she might as well be making the whole thing up as an excuse for slacking off the entire day.

_ What was even the point of chasing her,  _ Max thought. She suddenly had a flash of memory of the blue haired girl in the hoodie. Then she felt nauseous as she remembered the girl's fate.  _ Oh my god! Did that even happen? _ She'd seen her get shot and die, but then time had... gone backwards, somehow. Max honestly didn't have a clue whether the woman was alive or dead right now. Or why she knew Max's name for that matter...

The train slowed to a stop and the doors opened. Max stood up, clutching her satchel bag close by her side as she slipped through the crowd. One of the perks of being short and harmless-looking was that hardly anybody paid her any mind, although that was also a drawback if she wanted people to take her seriously. Come to think of it, this whole mess started because she wanted to be seen as a serious photojournalist.

Now, just a few weeks into the new job, she was going to show her face in the office having both nothing to show for it, and having lost the most important tool she needed to do her job in the first place.

Lost in the mire of her negative thoughts, she came to a stop before the impressive glassy entrance to the New Arcadia Times media HQ.

The building towered overhead, its white stone staircase leading up to the main double-doors as imposing and ostentatious as ever. Statues made from 3D-printed metal decorated the entrance, their complex abstract designs seemingly in defiance of the laws of physics. At the top of the stairs, the main entranceway awaited her. Its doors were two stories tall, made of smart glass which displayed a ticker scroll of the day's latest headlines.

Even though she worked in a news organization, the last thing Max wanted to do today was read the news. She pushed open one of the doors and walked inside, feeling small underneath the vaulted ceiling

The receptionist at the desk greeted her and asked her to verify her ID. She held out her phone towards the scanner. "Maxine Caulfield, photo department," she said, as the machine beeped and the receptionist gestured her through to the elevator.

She got in the elevator along with a pack of news writers, who were energetically talking about current events.

"—Couldn't just walk out," one of the reporters was saying. "Heroes have contracts, and sponsorships, and their schedules are closely monitored."

"Of course, but we can't forget, this is also a young woman we're talking about," said the other. "Metahuman or not, she's got a private life that we know nothing about. Perhaps — a family issue, something that her publicists are keeping hushed up."

"We also can't rule out the possibility of foul play," said the first. "A high-profile target like her would send a message to the Hero Association. I know there are plenty of anti-meta rebels who aren't above kidnapping, or even murder..."

"Kidnap Tempest ? Anyone who tries that has got a death wish," the other reporter said, and Max's head jerked up at the mention of a familiar name.

"Um, sorry..." she said, drawing the attention of the two news writers. "What's happening with Tempest?"

One of the reporters sighed and shook his head. "You checked the news today at all kid? Tempest is missing. The Hero Association hasn't seen or heard from her since early yesterday morning."

"Really? But... I saw her," Max said, recalling the fight she'd seen the previous day. "She was battling a Villain in a public park near Hawthorne Park station."

Both journalists stared at her like she'd mutated a second head.

"Sorry, but there's no way that can be true," said the first reporter. "I've built my career through paying close attention to the facts. There was no hero or villain activity reported around Hawthorne Park yesterday, and certainly no sightings of Tempest."

"I saw it," Max insisted. "I even took photos... but..." she trailed off. She was making a fool of herself in front of senior reporters for the Times.

The man crossed his arms, fixing her with a look of concern. "...Sorry, do you work here?"

"Yes, I— I'm, um, in the photo department," she said. "I'm pretty new, so... that's probably why we haven't met."

"You need to be careful with making brazen claims such as that. Especially when it has to do with breaking news. We have a strong obligation to report the truth here, and deliberately spreading misleading or fake information in our newsroom is grounds for dismissal," he said, his expression serious.

Max hung her head. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

The elevator dinged, and the two journalists got off, leaving Max in the elevator to ride the remaining couple floors up to the photojournalism department.

As the doors parted and Max stepped off on her floor, she was immediately face-to-face with a flurry of activity and yelling.

"What's the last photo shoot we did with Tempest? Any candid pictures? C'mon, we need something for her profile, ideally multiple angles from the same time. Any of them without the mask?" The editor was barking towards all the junior photographers. "We need headshots from other Heroes, too, to put next to their statements. Get me Oracle and Prescott, at least."

In the chaos, Max thought she could slip unnoticed to her desk and set up her tablet computer without drawing attention to herself. She got most of the way there — she'd managed to cross the room, set her bag on the table and started getting out her computer when somebody called out her name. The voice sent shivers up her spine.

"Max Caulfield," came the smooth baritone. Footsteps from exceedingly fancy shoes approached her desk as Max stared down at her bag, not wanting to make eye contact with the person who had approached her. After a mental war with her internal judgment, she convinced herself that she was only delaying the inevitable, and forced herself to meet the eyes of Mark Jefferson, her boss and personal idol.

"I was hoping you'd decide to show up today, Max," Jefferson said, leaning on her desk. "I've been looking forward to seeing what you've got for me on your special assignment."

_ Redirect and stall, _ thought Max, whose heart rate was through the roof. Being in Mark's presence was awesome but also incredibly stressful. This man was part of the reason she'd wanted this job so badly in the first place, after all, but he was also known to be incredibly discerning. His photographic eye was nothing short of genius, however.

"A-aren't we all focusing on the Tempest thing right now?" she wondered.

Mark gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Don't worry about that. We're a big organization; the interns can handle that. I didn't personally vouch for you to join our investigative team just for you to send over a jpeg on command. No, the reason I picked you is because... I see great potential within you, Max," he said. He beckoned for Max to follow him. "Step into my office. We can discuss things more in there."

Max closed her tablet computer and started to follow him into his private office. The plaque outside read  _ Mark Jefferson: Senior Metahuman Consultant _ . What was unusual about his arrangement was that Jefferson didn't actually work for the paper full-time. He was a world-renowned scientific researcher and one of the most prominent voices in the field of metahuman theory. His published books  _ The Origin of Metahumans _ and  _ Tracing The Metagene _ formed the foundation of public understanding of how persons with augmented abilities came to exist, and what the consequences of that meant for society at large.

Jefferson was also, by trade, an incredibly talented photographer, which was the main reason Max idolized him. His mastery of light and shadow and depth of field were apparent in the framed photo prints that hung on the wall above his desk. When he had personally written her a recommendation letter to be accepted into the New Arcadia Times investigative photojournalism team, Max could barely believe it. Now, she got to work directly underneath her idol... and it was stressful as all hell.

Jefferson sat down in the chair behind his desk, and indicated that Max should sit opposite him. She did, and tried to mask the trembling in her extremities as she did so. His dark eyes fixed on her with a searching stare.

"So, Max," he said, "Have you made any more progress in the Vortex case?"

"I, um..." Max nervously twisted the hem of her shirt. "I was following a lead yesterday... a person I saw in the metro with glowing eyes, just like you described it."

"Interesting," said Jefferson. "What then?"

"Well, I followed them until they caught sight of me, and then they ran," she said. Might as well tell the truth, or at least most of it. "I chased after them and eventually cornered them on the roof of a building."

"On the roof?" Jefferson raised his eyebrows. "That shows some serious determination. From that vantage point, I'm sure you were able to take some impressive photos."

"I... did, but—" Max's words caught in her throat. Better get it over with. "—Ilostmycamera."

"Sorry, what was that?"

"My... camera. It must've been stolen or left behind..." she stared at her lap. "So all of the pictures that I took are lost until I can recover it. And I won't be able to finish the assignment until I can get another one. I'm really sorry."

"Hmm..." Jefferson leaned back in his chair, stroking his beard and studying Max through the thick lenses of his glasses. "I must say, Max, a photographer losing her camera is a pretty rookie mistake."

"...I know. I'm really sorry..." Max repeated. "I didn't even realize it was missing until I woke up this morning."  _ Actually, I don't remember anything after mid-afternoon yesterday, _ she thought, but telling Jefferson that would sound like she was making ridiculous excuses.

"Although I am impressed with your determination to follow up on that lead. If what you're saying is indeed true," he said. "Did they at least volunteer any useful new data?"

"Um... not that much beyond what we already know," Max said. "They admitted to me that using Vortex increases your speed and strength temporarily, and also gets you high. They said they had been dosed by their... employer so that they could deliver a package across town. And they mentioned a name... Dogcatcher. I think that guy's their boss."

Jefferson scribbled a note on the legal pad he kept on his desk. "Hmm. That matches up with my intel from before."

"Do you know anything about Dogcatcher? Is he a Villain?"

Jefferson scoffed. "Hardly. That guy's a low-level pusher. Though, if even he's pushing Vortex... then it's already spreading rapidly across the city." He leaned across the table towards Max. "I need you to continue monitoring the situation closely, Max. Can you do that for me?"

"Um... shouldn't we report this to the police? Or to the Hero Association?" Max frowned. "We don't know yet how dangerous this is. Wouldn't it be better to turn over what we know to the police, so they can do something about it?"

"Max, Max, Max..." Jefferson said, shaking his head. "You don't understand. We have no idea how deep this goes. For all we know, the source of the Vortex could be coming from within the Hero Association itself. Until we know the full extent of this, let's not act prematurely. Keep your cards close to your chest, hmm?"

"Right..." Max said, although she felt an uneasy sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"I need you on this, Max. You know why I chose you, don't you?" Jefferson asked her. "It's because you have a gift. A special power of your very own."

"You mean, my eyes?"

"Not just your eyes, but the rest of you. I see an awesome potential in you, Max. Inside your genes, so to speak. With your photography skills, and your unique brand of persistence, why, you could even become my successor someday. I hope to see that day soon." Jefferson leaned on one elbow. "But Max, you can't keep making these rookie mistakes, like letting your camera get stolen. This isn't a gossip mag. You're in the big leagues now, and I expect you to act like it."

"Yessir," Max said, feeling proud but also small at the same time.

"That said, your assignment remains the same. I need you to get me photos of Vortex, its users, and find out more about where it's coming from. Consider this your first big test as a photojournalist. Nobody's going to hold your hand through this, so whether you succeed or fail will be up to you, and you alone. I want you to fully commit to working on this full time." He stood up from his desk chair and crossed the room to the glass case in the corner. "To make sure that happens, I'll lend you one of my own cameras, until you can get a replacement yourself."

The glass slid open at his touch, and he removed a camera that made Max's missing camera look like a cheap kids' toy by comparison. He placed it on the desk before Max, who held it gingerly with shaking hands.  _ The lens alone costs more than my rent for the entire month _ , she thought as she turned it around in her hands. When you were a world-renowned photographer like Mark Jefferson, she supposed, you could not only afford cameras like this, but also afford to lend them out to clumsy rookie photojournalists.

"I trust that you'll make good use of it," said Jefferson. "Now, Max, much as I enjoy our talks, you and I both know that we can't do our real jobs here in the office. Get out there, and get me those photos." He tapped his fingers on the table. "I know you can get them on my desk by Friday."

"Right..." Max ran her fingers over the switches and dials on the camera. Today was Monday, which gave her five days to meet her goal. "...Um, do you have any recommendations for leads I should follow first...?"

"You got some info out of that punk you chased down, didn't you?" Jefferson asked. "Why not try tracking them down again?"

"I can try..." Max said. Left unsaid was the fact that she didn't know whether the girl with blue hair was dead or alive after what had happened yesterday.

"Good. I look forward to seeing what you've got for me, Max. I know what you're capable of, so all you need to do is prove it." He walked over to the door and held it open for her. "Get going. I need to deal with this mess regarding Tempest, unfortunately."

Max nodded and escaped out the open door, clutching Jefferson's camera close to her chest. She returned to her desk and gathered up her things. In what was perhaps the first lucky thing that happened to her all day, no one interrupted her during her daring escape from the Times HQ. She rode the elevator down to the ground, taking a breath and finally allowing herself to settle down enough to read the news bulletin that scrolled across the smart glass.

**Number One Hero Goes Missing** , proclaimed the headline. The photograph they'd selected was one of Tempest's modeling shots, and although it was technically impressive, it failed to capture the raw, unbridled power Max had seen Tempest display in the confrontation in the park. While she always looked magnificent with her robes billowing behind her, Max found herself wishing fervently that she still had her own camera with those pictures on it.

That Villain, too... although their face had been obscured by purple flames, if she had those photographs to submit to Jefferson and the head Editor, they might be able to discern the villain's true identity. The fact that there was a metahuman somewhere in New Arcadia City with enough power to take on Tempest without seeming to break a sweat was deeply concerning. But Max couldn't even talk about what she'd seen without sounding delusional.

As far as the world at large was concerned, the fight in the Hawthorne street park had never happened. At this point, Max was beginning to wonder if she was in fact going crazy, from stress or overwork. But none of that explained the missing 15 hours of memories...

If she didn't find someone to talk to about this, she was really going to lose her mind.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened, cutting off where Max had been reading about how Tempest was last recorded leaving the Hero Association building at 8AM yesterday morning. Since then, she'd apparently dropped off the radar without a trace, to the confusion of the public and Hero Association officials alike. None of it made any sense at all.

Max crossed back through the lobby and exited the large double doors of the building. She was greeted by a brisk breeze, which tousled her hair and clothes and carried with it the smells of the sea. She was less than half a mile from the Pacific Ocean.

She couldn't see it from where she was, on account of all the skyscrapers, but as a kid living in New Arcadia, there was a place she always used to go when she felt lonely, lost, or confused: the old lighthouse on the cliff. Well, and she hadn't been alone back then, either...

Max tugged the lapels of her jacket up around her face. It had been just over a month since her return to New Arcadia, and she had yet to pay a return visit there. Now wasn't the right time for it, but she made a mental note to visit the lighthouse later.

Right now, what she needed most was caffeine. She hadn't really locked down a favorite coffee shop yet, but like all major metropolitan centers on the west coast, downtown New Arcadia was crawling with them. There were at least eight nearly-identical cafés within a five-block radius of the Times HQ. On an ordinary day, she'd simply ask her digital assistant to recommend her one, but today was anything but ordinary, so Max made her decision based on her gut feeling and picked one at random.

She pushed open the door of a coffee shop called _The Doe & Fawn_, her thoughts condensing to a one-track of  _ coffee _ and  _ now _ . The place was moderately busy, being a weekday morning, but fortunately there wasn't too long of a line standing in between her and warm, bitter vitality. She squinted up towards the menu, weighing her options between  _ a lot _ and  _ a fuckton _ of caffeine, before settling on  _ just enough to not kill me _ .

The person before her held their phone up to the scanner and paid for their coffee, and it was Max's turn to order. She stepped up to the counter, looking down at her bag as she searched for her own phone.

"Welcome to the Doe & Fawn, what can I getcha today?" asked her barista.

Max paused in her search. That voice... there was something familiar about it...

Slowly, she looked up at the person standing across the counter. She was a woman around Max's age, taller, tattooed. There was no mistaking the bright blue hair on her head, or her blue eyes, which yesterday had been shining from within with the light of Vortex.

The blue haired girl from the rooftop was alive. Through a twist of coincidence or kismet, Max had found her again, standing across the counter in a coffee shop, like everything was perfectly normal.

"Uhh, earth to space cadet. Are you gonna order something, or what?" she asked, fixing Max with the kind of perplexed stare that people had been giving her all day long.

It was then that Max noticed her name tag, her facial features, and recognized something more. Yesterday, on the roof — it wasn't the first time they met. Actually, their story had begun a long, long time ago.

"...Chloe?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"Uh, yeah, that's me, in the... flesh..." Chloe answered, before trailing off as she took a good look at Max. They stared at each other for a prolonged moment.

"Holy shit," Chloe said. "Max? Is that you?"


	3. Day One - Daytime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Max reunite, but their meeting is cut short when an unexpected crisis occurs in the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for gore & body horror in this chapter.

_ "After decades of research, scientists have determined the source of all metahuman abilities lies within the human genome: a single string of genetic code, termed the 'metagene.' This gene exists in all of us in either a dormant or active state. Many of us go through our lives without knowing the potential for unimaginable power lies dormant within us all, ready to awaken at any moment..." _

\- Mark Jefferson, "Tracing the Metagene"

\---

Max and Chloe stared at each other across the counter at the Doe & Fawn café. To say that neither had been expecting to see the other was an understatement. The weight of their shared histories hung in between them.

The person in line for coffee behind Max groused that she was holding up the queue, and she remembered the original reason she had come there.

"Um..." Max's voice cracked as she tried to place her order. "...Can I just get a medium house blend?"

Chloe moved automatically to fill a cup with steamy dark roast, not taking her eyes off Max the entire time. She handed it to Max without requesting payment.

"We're not done here," Chloe said to her. "My break is in fifteen minutes, so I'll meet you after that."

"O-okay..." Max said, curling her hands around the coffee cup. "See you then."

She and Chloe shared another prolonged stare before she tore her gaze away and went to go sit down in the interior of the café, her thoughts whirling around in her mind.

_ I can't believe Chloe is still here in New Arcadia City, _ she thought.  _ She looks so different from how I remember...  _ Of course, the last time they'd seen each other, they had each been only thirteen years old. Max sipped at her coffee and tried to drown out the guilty feelings in her gut. When Max's family had moved them out of New Arcadia to Seattle, the timing could not have been worse. But the failure to stay in touch with Chloe after the move was Max's alone. There were a million and one ways she could have reached out — through text or video call or social media — but instead, she'd let her oldest childhood friendship wither and the memories fade away like old photographs.

Now, Max felt equally guilty that she hadn't attempted to reconnect after she moved back to New Arcadia City for her new job. It wasn't as though she had a surplus of friends here in the city. Other than her coworkers, she could count on one hand the number of people living in the city who she knew on a first-name basis. She'd justified it to herself as being too busy with her career to focus on extracurricular activities and building friendships, but really, it was just her habitual shyness all over again.

She cast a glance over towards the counter, where Chloe was still serving customers their lattes. After a minute, Chloe looked over and their eyes met briefly, before Max averted her gaze again. _ This is so freaking strange, _ she thought. A slight blush colored her cheeks.  _ This _ Chloe was completely transformed from the Chloe that had been Max's best friend growing up in New Arcadia. She was tall, slender yet built, and her right arm displayed a spectacular tattoo of a skull surrounded by ribbons and roses. Her chin-length, cerulean blue hair also looked, Max had to admit, really good on her.

Max realized she was checking her out again and forced herself to stare at her coffee cup. I can't forget what I saw yesterday, she reminded herself. Even though Chloe was her childhood friend... Max couldn't deny that Chloe was also the hoodie-wearing punk she'd chased up to the roof of the apartment building. That meant that when she wasn't working as a barista, Chloe was wrapped up in some seriously shady business. She was involved in trafficking Vortex, and she'd even taken some of the drug herself. Max couldn't afford to let her guard down.

While she waited for the second hand on the wall-mounted clock to tick down to the time when Chloe would get off work, Max kept busy by familiarizing herself with the settings on her new camera. She opened up the image library. With a jolt of surprise, Max realized that since this was Jefferson's camera, there were pictures on the SD card that weren't hers.

The first two images were different shots of a graffiti wall in an alleyway somewhere in New Arcadia. Then there were a series of black-and-white images of some kind of interior space, showcasing dramatic light and shadow.  _ These must be Jefferson's, _ she supposed — unless he had lent the camera to someone else before her.

As she scrolled further back, Max's eyes widened. The earliest photo on the camera was of a young woman. According to its time stamp, it was taken two months ago. Although the photograph was taken in black and white, the woman appeared to be a blonde. She was reclining in a leather chair, posing like a model. She certainly had the good looks of a model, wearing stylish clothes along with a single feather earring. Although Max didn't recognize her, she couldn't shake the feeling she had seen that girl somewhere before...

Well, there was no point in wondering any further right now. She would have to ask Jefferson about them the next time she was in the office. Meanwhile, she needed to learn how to use her new camera. The controls were somewhat different from what she was accustomed to, and she needed to become comfortable with it. Using her coffee cup as a subject, Max took a series of photos in different light and shadow modes, playing with depth of field, aperture, and shutter speed. She looked like an absolute stereotype of a coffee-obsessed hipster, but she didn't care. She needed to keep her photo skills fresh, so that when she had the opportunity to take the shot of a subject that mattered, she wouldn't need to hesitate.

Jefferson's advice echoed in her head:  _ Always take the shot. _

She became so wrapped up in her photo exercise that she lost track of time, so when somebody tapped on her shoulder, she gave a start and nearly knocked over her coffee cup.

Chloe was standing there, work apron tossed over her shoulder, a half-smirk on her face. "All right, I got someone covering me, so let's chat. Not here, though," She said, inclining her head towards the side exit. "Outside."

"Um, okay," Max said, gathering her bag and her camera and getting to her feet. She picked up her coffee cup and carried it with her as she followed Chloe to the exit.

The two women stepped out onto a side street, which was sheltered from most of the noise and crowds of the city. Chloe walked them over to a bench, and sat down with a sigh. After a moment of hesitation, Max approached and sat beside her.

The sea breeze blew and tousled Chloe's hair. Before saying anything to Max, she reached into her pockets to take out a cigarette and lighter. She cupped her hand around the flame, shielding it from the wind, and the tip of the cigarette glowed as she inhaled. She breathed out smoke through her nose.

"So, Max..." Chloe said, breaking the silence between them. For a moment, Max was worried that she was going to be mad at her, to berate Max for leaving when Chloe needed her the most and falling out of contact after that. But instead, she gestured towards the camera which hung around Max's neck. "I see you're still as much of a shutterbug as ever, huh?"

"Oh... yeah, I still am," Max said. Butterflies welled up in her stomach as soon as Chloe started talking.

"I remember you always used to run around with that old retro camera, taking pictures of us and everything. Although it looks like you got some shiny new toys since then." She pointed at the large, high-tech camera that Max was using.

"Right... this isn't mine, though," Max admitted. "It's a loaner from my boss, after I kinda... lost mine yesterday."

"You lost your camera? That hella blows," Chloe said.

_ Yeah, and you were there, _ Max thought. It was pretty clear that this Chloe had no memory of the events of yesterday, just like everyone else in the city. Otherwise, her reaction to seeing Max would have been way different. It was better that she not get into any specifics, for now anyway.

"I was chasing a lead yesterday, and some... crazy shit went down. By the time everything settled, my camera was just... gone."

"That sucks. Good thing you got your boss to back you up," Chloe said. She looked over at Max, her expression neutral. "...Guess that means you really made it to the big leagues."

"Yeah," said Max. She felt a swell of pride. "I'm a photojournalist for the New Arcadia Times. It's why I moved back into the city a month ago."

"Daaa-amn. Always knew you had it in you, Caulfield." Chloe brought the cigarette to her lips again and exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Yeah, it's... cool, but it's a lot of work," Max said. "Everything moves so fast here all the time. There's so much going on, with the Heroes and everything..."

"Right. Of course that means you'd be too busy to reach out to an old friend." Chloe wasn't looking at her, but Max detected a hint of resentment in her voice.

_ Serves me right, _ she thought. Since Chloe brought it up, might as well address what she really wants to talk about... "Chloe, I'm so sorry about the way things ended seven years ago."

"Ended?!" Chloe turned to look at her, blue eyes flashing. "Max, nothing ended the day you left me behind. That was only the beginning for me. The only difference is that you weren't a part of it anymore."

"I — I know that, but... you'd just lost your dad, and I..." she trailed off. Any excuse she tried to come up with felt flimsy and dishonest, not to mention disrespectful.

"Max. There's no point in trying to apologize," Chloe said, flicking the ash from her cigarette onto the pavement. "You weren't there for me back then, so don't try and make up for it now. You had —  _ seven years, _ Max. You could've called, or texted, or..." she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a frustrated sigh. "It's obvious you don't care, so don't pretend like you do. It'll only hurt more." She got up from the bench. "I changed my mind. This was obviously a mistake. I've gotta go—"

"Chloe, wait!" Max reached out and grabbed her arm. This wasn't going the way she'd hoped... but she couldn't let Chloe just walk away. "I know that I can't apologize for what I did. I abandoned you, which was selfish and awful. And I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness. But..." She took a deep breath. She had only one shot at this, so she had to choose the right words to say. "I wasn't even sure if moving back to New Arcadia was a good idea at all. Meeting you today... it's been the only good thing that's happened in the middle of this big shit-storm. It doesn't feel like a coincidence. It's more like..."

"...Fate?" Chloe finished for her, still facing away so that Max couldn't read her expression. Then she seemed to realize what she had just said, and shook her head. "Max, you're still sentimental as ever."

"Chloe..." Max said, releasing her hold on Chloe's arm. "I know how selfish it is for me to ask for your forgiveness. There's no way I can make things go back to the way they were when we were kids. But, please... all I'm asking for is a second chance."

Chloe made a strange hiccuping sound. Then she turned back towards Max, who could see that her eyes were shimmering with unshed tears. She rubbed at her eye with the heel of her hand.

"It's stupid," Chloe said, her voice raspy. "For so many years, I told myself... all I wanted was to see you again, to hear you say those words."

Max held her breath. "...And today?"

"Max..." Chloe shook her head. "I'm really not the same as the girl you used to know. I'm... fucked up, okay? No offense, but you have no idea what my life is like now. I can't let you near that kinda stuff."

_ I know better than you think, _ Max thought. "I'm not afraid of anything like that," she told her. "If I was, I'd have taken a career in fashion or tourism photography. Not... doing what I do now, reporting on what really matters. The reason I came back to New Arcadia was because I wanted to be a part of it. So, please... don't underestimate me, Chloe. I'm different, too."

Chloe hesitated. For a moment, Max thought she was just going to leave without saying another word. Then, to Max's surprise, she smiled and began to laugh.

"You — haha — you've always been full of surprises, Max," Chloe said. "Okay, you know what? Fine." She sat back down on the bench beside Max. Her knee brushed the outside of Max's thigh. "Because I'm soooo kind and courteous, I guess I'll give you a second chance."

"Really? You mean it?" Elation bloomed in Max's chest.

"Sure," Chloe said. "But just so ya know, you aren't getting out of it that easy again." She leaned into Max, bumping their shoulders together.

"All right by me," Max said grinning. Reconnecting with Chloe was making her feel a childlike joy that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Today has been so fucking weird," Chloe said, and looked over to Max as she took another drag on her cigarette.

"Gotta agree with you on that one," said Max. "Weirdest. Day. Ever."

"It's like, first there's this thing with Tempest, and then suddenly _you_ show up again, rising from the dead like a zombie."

_ Rising from the dead? Look who's talking, _ Max thought, remembering yesterday's events.

"Are you... a big fan of Tempest's, then?" she asked.

To her surprise, Chloe laughed. "Ha! You could say that," she said, and Max sensed that there was more to it than that. "It just... isn't like her to vanish like this, without telling anyone..."

"You're not alone. The Hero Association and most of the city is worried, too," Max said.

"Worried?" Chloe straightened herself up. "Tempest is the baddest of asses. Anyone tries to fuck with her, they're gonna get what's coming. It's them who oughta be worried. There's a reason she's number one, okay?"

"Yeah, she's— pretty incredible," Max said, remembering seeing Tempest fling fire and ice. "I hope she turns up soon."

"She will. I just know it." Chloe finished her cigarette, dropping it to the concrete and grinding it down with her heel. "Well, Max, as exciting and emotionally ridiculous as this has been, I gotta get back inside—"

The two of them were interrupted by a loud screeching of metal and the sound of screams.

Chloe's head jerked up. "The hell was that? Sounds like it came from around the corner." She quickly got to her feet and made quick strides towards the Main Street that ran in front of the Doe & Fawn. Max quickly got to her feet and followed after her.

As they turned the corner, they immediately beheld the horrific scene that was the source of the noise. Max dropped her coffee in shock.

In the center of the busy street, a car had overturned, and traffic was piling up around it on all sides. The flipped car was sparking, its electronics and battery exposed, and seemed liable to burst into flames at any time. More cars showed signs of damage: a minivan had swerved into a flatbed truck, and the passengers of both were in the process of disembarking in order to survey the damage. But it became immediately clear this was no ordinary accident.

In the middle of the street, standing in the empty space that was cleared due to the accident, was a man — or something which had once been a man. The hulking, humanoid figure stood at least eight feet tall, with rippling, bulging muscles that appeared purple due to the numerous blue veins crisscrossing his skin. His clothes hung in tattered shreds all around his body. He was breathing heavily, his shoulders appearing to expand and contract with every heaving, shuddering breath. Two deformed lumps that appeared to be a shrunken secondary set of arms were protruding from just above his shoulders. On his forehead, below his receding hairline, two sharp points that looked like horns had burst through the skin, sending rivulets of blood running down the creature's face.

"Monster!!" screamed one of the eyewitnesses, pointing towards the creature. The thing that had once been human turned its head towards the noise, and as it did, Max caught a glimpse of its eyes: bright white, glowing with a light from within.

_ That looks like... Vortex, _ Max thought immediately and reached for her camera. Although she didn't know what's going on, she knew she needed to document this.

Before she could focus her lens however, she felt a sharp tug on her arm. She looked up at Chloe, who had a firm grip on Max's elbow and was pulling her in the direction away from the car crash.

"You gotta get outta here, Max," Chloe said, a worried look on her face. "This shit's about to break bad. We gotta run!"

Max felt the sensation of dejá vu, remembering how Chloe had said almost the same exact thing on the roof yesterday during the fight between Tempest and the Villain. And Max was about to tell her the same thing she said the last time.

"I can't," she told Chloe. "This is my job. I need to photograph this." She brought the camera to her eye and focused it on the humanoid monster.

"Max, c'mon. I just met you — there's no way I'm losing you again, 'specially not to Freakazoid here!"

In the center of the street, the monster howled. It desperately clawed at its face with its hands, where the horns on its forehead were pushing their way further out and developing forks, like deer antlers. Before Max's eyes, its body mass seemed to increase, its muscles bulging outwards, straining and tearing the skin. The extra set of limbs grew, becoming more muscular, with cloven hooves instead of hands. Its face appeared to elongate, taking on an almost cervine appearance.

The four-armed deer-man let out another scream which was just similar enough to human to trigger a deep and primal fear response. With one of its massive hands, it backhanded a two-seater passenger pod, sending the little vehicle and its occupants flying backwards and crashing into a glass storefront.

"That thing is going berserk," Chloe said, staring up at the deer-man, which now towered nearly twelve feet high. "Why are all these people just standing around? It's like they wanna become civilian casualties." She shifted uneasily from one foot to the other.

"The Heroes will come," Max said, zooming in on the deer-man's face and snapping a photo. "The Association has ways of knowing whenever an incident like this happens. They've probably got a team on the way right now."

"Fuck that! I'm not gonna wait around in the hopes that someone else is gonna show up to save the day!"

Letting out a series of eerie bleats, the deer-man swung its antlered head around, its glowing eyes casting frenzied glances towards the crowd all around it. The extra pair of arms on its back twitched and rippled their muscles, and saliva dripped from its bared teeth onto the ground. A crowd of people had gotten out of their cars and were gathered on the sidewalk, holding onto each other in fear and pointing towards the monster. It gave a snort and narrowed its glowing white eyes.

The sound of breaking glass and twisting metal echoed throughout the street once again as the deer-man grabbed a car, now vacated of its driver, and with Herculean strength, lifted the car above its head. It stood there, muscles twitching and shining with sweat, as Max's photo lens captured it poised, ready to hurl the car like a shot put. With a sinking feeling of horror, she realized the beast was aiming directly for the place where the crowd of people was the thickest.

"Hey! Ugly!" shouted a voice from the other side of the street. A piece of rubble collided with the side of the deer-man's face, and it shook its antlered head in confusion. It lowered the car from above its head before dropping it at its feet with a crash, sending shards of glass and hubcaps scattering across the street.

Max lowered her camera and looked with astonishment at Chloe, who was standing several meters away in front of the entrance to the Doe & Fawn, grinning and tossing another chunk of asphalt in one hand.

_ "Chloe!" _ Max hissed at her in a stage whisper.  _ "What are you doing?!" _

"Causing a distraction," Chloe said, still with a wild grin on her face. The monster started to turn back towards the large group of people, so Chloe threw the rock and hit it in the head again. "Oh no you don't," she said. " _ Bad _ freak-of-nature! Bad!"

The monster now turned in their direction. Its glowing eyes narrowed and focused on Chloe.

"Are you insane?! Now it just wants to kill  _ you! _ "

"Oh," said Chloe. "Oops."

The deer-man placed its enormous palms on the ground and lowered its head so that the forked antlers were pointing outwards. Its muscles tensed, and then it began charging, launching itself forward with surprising speed given its size, the points of its antlers targeting directly at Chloe.

"Shit shit shit shit  _ shit, _ " Chloe exclaimed, taking a flying leap out of the way as the monster charged into the space where she'd been standing a split-second prior. Instead, it crashed through the entrance of the Doe & Fawn café. Glass shards and bricks came raining down as it shattered the front window, its antlers entangling with the metal frame of the doorway.

Chloe launched herself forward, tucking in her head and shoulders to execute a perfect shoulder roll and landing right back on her feet. She still had a grin on her face. She turned towards the deer-man, who was still trying to extricate itself from the metal entrance to the coffee shop, and flipped it off with both hands.

"How d'ya like that, ya four-armed creep?" Chloe taunted. The beast struggled and bellowed with rage, but appeared to be trapped. Panting, she turned towards Max.

"That should hold him 'til the Heroes arrive," she said, clapping her hands and dusting them off. "Well, Max? How'dya think I did?"

Max shook her head. "You're crazy..." she said, smiling. "But... that was pretty cool."

"I know, right?" Chloe said. She was breathing heavily and still grinning. "If you're done taking your pretty pictures, Max, we should go before— ghhhgk!"

Circles of red bloomed across Chloe's white shirt as the monster's sharpened antlers gored through her back, their points protruding from her chest. Blood ran down from the corner of her mouth and she let out a gurgling cough as the deer-man speared her with its antlers, lifting her up off her feet. She reached out a hand towards Max before the life in her eyes faded and her body went limp.

_ "Chloe, no!!" _ Max screamed, and stretched out her hand desperately towards her dead best friend.

A ripple passed through reality.

Before Max's eyes, time again began to move backwards, just like it had done yesterday. Only this time, she was aware of something else.

_ Max  _ was the cause of this. Time was reversing itself, and she was the one in control. This power was her own.

As Max extended her hand and concentrated, Chloe lowered to the ground again, and the circles of blood disappeared from her shirt as the monster's antlers withdrew from her body. The beast moved backwards with shocking speed, returning to the entrance of the coffee shop, where its antlers again locked with the metal frame of the door.

The more that Max reversed time, the greater the pounding headache she felt in her temple. She tasted the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. Eventually, she reached a point where a red haze started to encroach on her vision, and time itself felt as though it would not allow her to press much further.

With a gasp, she released her power and the flow of time returned to normal. The monster was still entangled in the door, but it was going to break free very soon.

Max needed to act fast. She scanned the scenery around her for something she could use, and her eyes settled on a hubcap lying on the ground nearby, which had been knocked off from a car. The ring of holes around its surface... yes, that would do. She hefted it in her arms and held it in front of her.

"How d'ya like that, ya four-armed creep?" Chloe yelled, flipping the monster off with both hands. "...Hey, Max, where'd you go?"

The monster twisted its head to the side, freeing itself from the metal doorway, and stood up, shaking glass shards from its hair. It turned towards Chloe and lowered its antlers again, tensing its muscles in preparation to charge.

_...Now! _ Max held out the hubcap in front of the charging deer-man. The holes in the metal disc interlocked with the sharp tines on the antlers and held fast. The monster reared backwards, its vision obscured. It grasped with its hands at the hubcap, trying to dislodge it. Its cloven hoof-arms knocked into the side of the building, sending bricks and rubble flying.

Max didn't stick around to watch; now was the time to run. She sprinted as quickly as she could, grabbing Chloe's wrist and pulling her along beside her. The bellows and roars of the deer-man echoed behind them, becoming fainter and fainter as they put more and more distance between them and the monster.

Finally, once the monster's howls were barely audible in the distance, Max let go of Chloe's wrist and bent over double, gasping for breath with her hands on her knees. Chloe, likewise winded, clapped Max on the back.

"Max, that was— good thinking— with the hubcap there," she said, taking deep gulps of breath in between every other word. Once her breathing returned to normal, she looked up at Max with a grin. "I think we actually make a pretty good team! What d'you think?"

"Chloe..." Max said, her voice shaking. She couldn't handle the fact that she'd just seen her friend die before her eyes, for the second day in a row; yet now she was standing before Max, her blue eyes bright and alive as ever.

Her body seemed to move on his own as Max surged forward and wrapped Chloe in an embrace. She leaned her head against Chloe's chest, her tears soaking into Chloe's shirt as she breathed in the smell of coffee grounds, citrus body wash and sweat. Max allowed herself to break down, sobbing into Chloe's chest. "I w-w-was so afraid... you were gonna d-d-die..."

"Whoa, uh," Chloe said, startled by Max's sudden emotional outburst. She wrapped her own arms around Max's shoulders and rubbed reassuring circles into her back. "Shhh, Max. Everything's okay. I didn't die, all right? I'm right here."

Max separated herself from Chloe's embrace. She used the back of her hand to wipe away tears and snot as her expression grew serious. "Y-you don't understand," she said, with just a hint of a quiver in her voice. "Back there... I saw...." Suddenly she grasped Chloe's hand in hers. Her eyes stared deep into Chloe's own.

"Chloe, there's something I need to tell y—"

Before she could finish her sentence, they were interrupted by a high pitched whine that started faintly but grew louder with every second that passed. It accompanied a blue-and-yellow blur which was rapidly zooming towards their location. As it approached, the blur revealed itself not as a vehicle, but a person, their body moving at an inhuman speed.

Finally, the Heroes had arrived on the scene.

The blue blur slowed down as it approached Max and Chloe, and briefly skidded to a halt with the scraping of impact-engineered polymers on concrete. Max stared at the Hero; he wore a full-body suit not too different from a tracksuit, blue all over with swooping streaks of yellow up the legs and around the shoulders. Like most heroes, he wore a mask across his face, although it did little to hide his incredibly youthful appearance. He wore his brown hair loose, where it fell in floppy bangs across his face. His chest bore the unmistakable logo of the Hero Association.

"'Sup, ladies," he said with a mock salute. "Flashdrive here, at your service."

"Oh, it's you," Chloe said, staring at him. Max recalled the public popularity rankings: he hovered around rank 4 or 5, a pretty popular hero, especially among younger female fans. His powers of super-speed and athletics made sure that he was usually the first person on the scene.

Chloe's lukewarm response appeared to catch him off-guard; he was used to being received with greater fanfare. But he seemed to brush it off quickly. "You two are coming from the scene where the villain attacked, right?"

Max nodded. "Yeah," she said.

Flashdrive handed each of them a plastic card that had the logo of the Hero Association on it. "Everyone that witnessed this event is being summoned to the Association HQ at 1300 for a debriefing and reparations. Don't be late!" He took a step back. "Well, ladies, pleasant as it has been, it's time for me to go save the day again. Ciao!"

Just as quickly as he appeared, he vanished in a blue blur, streaking towards the scene with the monster. Max stared at the keycard he'd left in her hand. "Why do you think they need us at the Hero HQ?"

"Probably so they can figure out what the hell is up with that monster," Chloe said. She narrowed her eyes in the direction Flashdrive had gone. "But, man... I don't like that guy."

"But— he's a Hero!"

"Yeah? He called us 'ladies'. Dude's even younger than we are! What gives him the right to act so high-and-mighty?"

"He _does_ have powers..." Max said. As she did, she felt a pounding headache in her temple which made her wince and clutch at her head. "Oww..."

Chloe moved closer to Max and looked at her in concern. "Max, are you alright?"

"I'm fine... I think," she said. "Just... glad that's all over, is all."

"If you say so." She took a step back. "What was that thing you were gonna say earlier, before Blue Skidmark over here showed up?"

"Oh, um..." Max glanced at the palm of her right hand. She wanted to tell Chloe about how she rewound time in order to save her life, but her headache was making it difficult to concentrate. "It's... complicated. I'll tell you after we report to the Hero Association. I... kinda feel like I need to lie down right now."

Confusion and disappointment flashed across Chloe's face, but she masked it immediately. "That's fair. I'd say you can crash at my place, but... to be honest, it's kind of always a shit-show. Let me at least give you a lift back to your apartment, though." She turned back towards the direction of the crime scene and beckoned Max follow her. "C'mon."

"Okay, but... don't you have work?" Max asked, following behind Chloe.

Chloe laughed. "After what happened to the shop? Nuh-uh. Don't think I'll be working there again 'til they can get it fixed up."

The closer they got to the scene of the crime, the more uneasy Max became. The roars and grumbles of the monster were still audible. Max reminded herself that she was a reporter, and it was her job to be on the scene when stuff like this happened.

As they turned the corner and came into view of the street intersection again, Max spied the deer-man once more, engaged in combat with Flashdrive. The Hero was running circles around it, dodging and leaping over the monster's clumsy arm strikes. The hubcap which Max had stuck on its antlers was still there, blocking its vision and allowing Flashdrive to dart in on its blind spot and deliver a flurry of blows before dancing out of range.

Max raised her camera to snap a dramatic photo of the action. It seemed the area had been cleared of bystanders — most likely Flashdrive's doing.

As the Hero leapt and rolled out of the way of the monster's furious four-armed assault, a sound like a miniaturized jet engine echoed across the wrecked city street.

Max brought her camera lens upwards towards the source of the noise. Within her picture frame, she beheld an unfortunately familiar face. Nathan Prescott hovered in midair on his high-tech jetpack, his scowl equally pronounced as it had been when she saw him yesterday. He held his laser rifle in both hands, and was surveying the scene from his vantage point up in the sky.

"About time you showed up!" shouted Flashdrive. "Hey, stun this guy for me so we can take him in, okay?"

Nathan raised his rifle and pointed it towards the monster. Wisely, Flashdrive sprinted away from the deer-man as Nathan squeezed the trigger. A barrage of vicious beams of light shot out of the barrel of the gun and collided directly with the torso of the monster. The lasers tore through its chest, leaving steaming holes behind. The white light faded from the beast's eyes as it toppled over and landed with a crash on top of an abandoned car. A pool of red blood began to spread outwards from its corpse.

Flashdrive sprinted up to Nathan as he landed on the concrete. "Hey! I thought I told you to stun, not to kill it! That is  _ so _ not what the Hero Association is about."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. My stun gun won't work on something that big. And if you thought we'd get any useful intel out of that freak, you're wrong." He shouldered his rifle. "It wasn't gonna live much longer, anyway. It was a mercy kill."

"Oracle's so gonna chew you out for this," Flashdrive grumbled. In the distance, police sirens wailed, indicating the clean-up crew was en route.

Max snapped one final picture of the gruesome aftermath of the battle before Chloe tugged at her arm, leading her away from the scene. Relief washed over her as they left the scene of the crime behind, heading towards Chloe's car.

Chloe led them down a side alleyway, which terminated in a parking lot. Double-parked in a corner of the lot was the oldest car that Max had maybe ever seen. It was hard for her to tell what color it even was underneath the rust — gray, maybe, or green? The flatbed in back held several garbage bags, trash and old scraps of clothing. Max thought she recognized the black hoodie that was lying in its corner. Its Oregon license plate read TWNPKS.

"Max, meet my baby," Chloe said with what seemed like a disproportionate sense of pride as she held the passenger side door open for Max to get in. The interior of the car was not much better; although every inch seemed to be bursting with Chloe's personality. Stickers and graffiti tags decorated the dashboard and ceiling, and the seat was upholstered with what looked to be a repurposed pirate flag. It smelled like rust and grease and... gasoline?

"Chloe, does this car still run on gas?" Max asked, incredulous. Driveable cars were already being phased out as the majority of cars simply ran on self-navigating technology, but gas-powered cars were even more of a relic. This thing practically belonged in a museum.

"Yup," Chloe said, shutting the door behind her and turning the key in the ignition. After several false starts, the engine roared to life and rumbled and puttered as they idled in the parking lot. "Found this baby abandoned in an old scrap heap. Nobody wanted her, but I saw her for what she really was." She ran a hand fondly across the dashboard. "Took a lot of work, but I fixed her up myself using parts from other hunks of junk. She's broken and put back together... just like me." Chloe disengaged the brake and floored the accelerator, and the car peeled out of the parking lot with a roar.

Max gripped the handle on the side of the door; the truck didn't appear to have seat belts, and Chloe was a good albeit terrifying driver. "I didn't think it was road legal to drive these things anymore."

Chloe shrugged. "It probably isn't, but the way I figure, the cops and Heroes have got their hands full dealing with deer-headed freaks-of-nature and shit. New Arcadia hasn't got the attention span to worry about me."

"If you say so..." Max said. She looked over at Chloe, seated behind the wheel with a grin on her face. She seemed completely in her element here. From underneath the surly punk exterior, Max thought she could catch a glimpse of the carefree, cheerful girl she had once known.

"No point sittin' here in silence. Let's hear some music!" Chloe said, and punched the ancient stereo. An  [ old song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mItuZ8i4wH8) began to play, blasting through the speakers and causing the floor underneath Max's feet to vibrate.

As the scenery of the city flashed by her and the sounds of music filled her body, Max wondered what everything she'd seen today and yesterday meant, and what the future held in store for the two of them. She stared at the palm of her hand, remembering how she'd caused time to turn back on itself.  _ Whatever this power is... whatever's happening to me right now... it has to do with both of us. _

Chloe was right. Meeting her yesterday, and again today... it wasn't a coincidence. There was no way it was anything other than fate.


	4. Day One - Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After making a new discovery about the nature of her newfound powers, Max pays a visit to the Hero Association.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays! Enjoy the new chapter :)

_ "The Hero Association in New Arcadia City should serve as a blueprint for similar institutions across the country and the world. It provides logistic and financial support for Heroes, a platform for research into metahuman abilities and development of new technology, and an opportunity for the general public to learn about and engage with the Heroes whose faces they see on their screens every day." _

\- Mark Jefferson, "The Origin of Metahumans"

\---

As Chloe's ancient, beat-up truck pulled over on the sidewalk beside Max's apartment building, she turned towards Max with a wary look on her face.

"Max, wait," she said, resting a hand on Max's arm. "Do you still plan to go to the Hero Association?"

"Well, yeah," Max said. "I want to get to the root of what happened this morning. Maybe the Heroes are gonna explain what caused the monster to attack."

Chloe kicked her feet up on the dashboard. "Maybe," she said. "Or maybe it's just boring-ass bureaucratic bullshit."

"Well, Flashdrive said if we don't show, they'll just track us down... so I don't think we have much choice."

"They can try," said Chloe, "But the only way I'm going to that fucking tower is if they drag me there kicking and screaming." She looked sideways at Max with a grin on her face. "I dig your do-gooder attitude, though. If you're gonna go, then go. Meet your Heroes. Although you know what they say about that..."

"It sounds like you've been there before," Max said.

"Maybe," Chloe said. She looked closely at Max's face. "But man, you look really tired. Are you sure you're up for it?"

"I'm, uh..." Max said, and paused. Truthfully, she felt gross, her clothes soaked with sweat and grime and her head was still aching ever since the altercation on the street. But she couldn't let her discomfort get in the way of pursuing the truth. "I'll be fine. I need to do this."

"Okay, Max," Chloe said, though she still looked a bit concerned. "If you say you're okay, then, fine. Go do your good citizen thing, and we'll meet back up later this afternoon, when you're done."

"Got it," Max said. She opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk, then turned back to face Chloe. "Um, where do you want to meet?"

Chloe cast a furtive glance at the street around them, as though she was scanning for something. "Better not say it out loud. Never know who might be listening," she said. "But you know where I'm thinking of, Max. It's — our special place."

"Uhh..." Max blinked. Our special place? But the city is so different from when we were kids... where could she be talking about?

Chloe noticed her look of confusion and chuckled. She reached out a hand and ruffled Max's hair. "Use your noggin, Max. Remember where we always used to go together, when it was just the two of us?"

_ Just the two of us... oh! _ Max's eyes widened in realization and she nodded.

Chloe grinned, swinging her legs off the dashboard and starting up the engine again.

"See ya later, Max Power!" she called out as the truck peeled away from the curb and sped away, leaving a cloud of exhaust in its wake.

Max watched her go, then punched in her key code to enter the apartment complex. She climbed the stairs, fighting the feelings of nausea and her splitting headache. The first thing she did when she stepped inside her tiny studio apartment was to shed her sweat-soaked clothes. Newly clad in a clean outfit, she allowed herself to fall onto her bed.

The room spun before her eyes, so she closed them and focused on breathing. Slowly, the pounding headache in her temple faded away. She wasn't sure how long she lay there: ten or twenty minutes, maybe, letting her mind drift between consciousness and unconsciousness as she attempted to process what had just happened to her.

_ That really happened, _ Max thought, recalling the terrifying moments after the deer-man had gored Chloe on its antlers. In desperation, her body had acted on its own; she'd held out her right hand and rewound time. It was just like what happened yesterday on the rooftop.

_ I'm not crazy. I saw it happen with my own eyes. I changed the past. _

But... what was the catalyst? In both cases where she turned back time to date, it was because she'd seen Chloe killed or horribly injured right before her eyes.

_ Does Chloe have to die for my power to work? _

There was one way to find out. Max got up from her bed and crossed over to the kitchen on the other side of her apartment.  She selected an apple, which she'd recently picked up from the store in an ambitious attempt to include more fruits and vegetables in her diet. She set the apple on the edge of the counter, then she nudged it with the back of her hand. It fell to the floor and rolled underneath the table.

Max frowned and concentrated. She extended her right hand, recalling how it felt the last time she'd rewound time. It felt like a tug in her gut, reaching to the core of her being. She summoned up her concentration. All she needed was to grab hold of the timeline, just a little, and  _ twist _ ...

Before her eyes, the apple rolled backwards from under the table. It rose upwards, defying gravity, and returned to its position on the counter. She released her rewind and stared at the apple, which glistened in the daylight that streamed in through her wide window.

_ It's  _ not  _ just when I'm around Chloe. I can do this anytime, anywhere... _

A sudden epiphany struck her with such force that she needed to sit down in a chair.

_ I'm a metahuman, _ she realized. Even with the increased occurrence of the metagene among persons born in and around New Arcadia, it had never crossed Max's mind that she could be one of them.

Max reached into her pocket and removed the plastic card that Flashdrive had handed her. The front simply displayed the Hero Association logo, while the back of it showed the date and time she was expected to show up. _ I should go and tell them my story, _ she thought, getting up from the chair. _ Though maybe I'll keep the fact that I've got time rewinding superpowers to myself, for now... _

She recalled Jefferson's words of advice to her: Keep your cards close to your chest. With a secret as earth-shattering as this one, Max would be better off not divulging it to just anyone.

...Anyone, that is, except for the one person who seemed to be at the root of all this; whose reappearance in Max's life coincided with the awakening of her powers. Chloe felt like the only person she could trust with this secret.

She picked the apple up off the counter and took a bite. Its sweet, tart flavor filled her mouth. It tasted like the future.

Then she shrugged on her jacket and left her apartment to report to the Hero Association.

\---

The Hero Association headquarters was a massive skyscraper, the tallest building in the entire city. It was located in the very heart of downtown New Arcadia. Everything about it spoke to its importance and the role that metahumans played in shaping the city's landscape and culture, from its prominent location just blocks from city hall, to the impressive modern architecture. Curved steel beams swept up the sides of the tower in an almost gravity-defying manner, resembling an ocean wave or even the hips and shoulders of a human body. The glass coating its exterior was smart glass, like the front doors of the Times HQ. It currently displayed the date & time as well as the public threat level, which was Moderate .

At the top of the tower, above the illuminated logo of the Hero Association which shone across the city both day and night, sat a helipad as well as the Spire, which towered above every other building in the city. The purpose of the Spire was shrouded in mystery, but it was believed to send and receive signals from the Association's detailed intelligence network, monitoring criminal and Villain activity throughout the city. Once a threat was detected, a hero or team of heroes would typically be en route in mere minutes. The rapid response time acted as a deterrent to Villains and other criminals; although it didn't eliminate them entirely. In fact, the Times was reporting an increased frequency of Villain- and other metahuman-related terrorist activity over the past few months. _ Wonder if that includes giant monsters attacking the city in broad daylight... _

Max squinted up at the tower, shielding her eyes from the bright light of the sun which glinted off its glassy edifice. This place was important enough to get its own stop on the metro. Even now, at midday, people were pouring in and out through its double doors: tourists and sightseers, as well as employees who worked for the Association: marketers and merchandising specialists, publicity agents, fashion designers, tech experts, doctors, scientists, legal advocates, and more than a hundred other roles. Hero business was big business in New Arcadia City, one that infiltrated all sectors, private and public.

As usual, paparazzi swarmed the entrance, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the Heroes themselves. Max pulled up her hoodie to attempt to shield her face from the flashing cameras. She knew that technically, her career meant she was kin to them; she even thought she recognized one or two reporters from the Times among the crowd. Still, she liked to consider herself as distinct from them. She'd much rather blend in with the crowd than aggressively shove her camera in someone's face.

She felt in her pocket for the key card that Flashdrive had given her. Then she scanned the crowd for anybody with blue hair. She wasn't surprised to find no signs of Chloe anywhere.

_ I don't think she likes the Hero Association much... _ Max reflected as she stopped at the threshold of the security checkpoint. A beam of light scanned her from head to toe. She held her breath, worrying that her camera — or her new powers — would trip the alarm, but then the light turned green with a beep, and she was permitted to pass through into the main lobby. She breathed a sigh of relief as she pushed her way through the revolving door.

The interior of the Association HQ was designed to portray a sense of grandeur that made one feel tiny and mortal. The circular floor plan surrounded a central shaft containing multiple elevators that transported staff and visitors up to higher floors. Crowds of people moved through the space, including gawking tourists, tour guides, and fangirls and fanboys wearing Hero cosplays.

The ground floor was a hall of fame, of sorts, for heroes both present and past. Portraits of the top Heroes hung on the walls: front and center was Tempest, the darling of the Association and the public, smiling coyly underneath her horned mask. Beside her was Oracle, Tempest's second-in-command, looking powerful and humorless in her stark white suit; and Nathan Prescott, wearing his perpetual glower even in a posed portrait. Further down the wall, Max spotted a picture of Flashdrive, the super-speedy Hero who'd intervened with the monster that morning. Beside his frame was a portrait of Angel, the triage hero: a young girl who wore a gentle smile on her face. This and past generations of Heroes were honored for their service to the city by being elevated to essentially demigods.

Dominating the atrium was a towering bronze statue of one of the most famous heroes in the history of the city: Harry Prescott, codename Behemoth. One of the first known metahumans, his powers of extraordinary strength manifested shortly after the Cataclysm that destroyed old Arcadia Bay. Using his new abilities, he led the reconstruction efforts and became one of the founders of New Arcadia. These days, the influence of his legacy seemed sometimes impossible to escape.

Max caught a glimpse of an ad on one of the video screens that lined the outer wall.  _ Prescott Industries: Making Tomorrow's Future Today, _ it said . The smiling face of Sean Prescott filled every screen in the building for a moment before switching to another ad. Despite not inheriting his father's metagene, Sean Prescott seemed to be doing his part to reshape New Arcadia in his own image just as well. It was widely known that the Prescott Foundation was one of the main financiers of the Hero Association. Just like it was widely believed that Sean Prescott would announce his bid for mayor soon.

_ Prescott this, Prescott that, _ Max thought. Sometimes it seemed like that family was trying a little too hard to put their names and faces on everything. To say the least of Nathan Prescott, the only Hero without a mask, without a secret identity, and without a real superpower.  _ Powers or not,  _ Max thought,  _ He sure seems to enjoy shooting things with that laser rifle of his. _

Then she recalled Nathan shooting Chloe, and her blood grew icy in her veins. _ I don't know why he would do that... but I'm going to get to the bottom of this somehow. _

She realized that she had no idea where to go for the supposed debriefing, so she approached a smartly-uniformed person of indeterminate gender who was seated at the reception desk.

"Hi," Max said, having difficulty hearing her own voice over the noise in the room. "I, um, I was present when a Villain attacked this morning. One of the Heroes gave me this card and told me to report here."

The secretary examined the card Max handed them before nodding. "Take the elevator," they said, somewhat robotically. "Just press your card against the glass and it'll take you to the correct floor." They handed the card back to Max.

"Um, thanks..." Max said. She wondered whether they were in fact an android. Stepping away from the desk, she weaved through the crowd of people towards the elevator, which opened as she stepped inside.

Within the elevator, the crush of people quickly pushed Max to the back walls. She grit her teeth and focused on breathing normally; she didn't like overcrowded spaces very much. As she came up next to the wall, the smart glass reacted to her presence and showed the words PLEASE PRESENT KEY.

An arrow indicated where she should place her card. Max pressed the piece of plastic against the glass elevator wall, and after a second it registered and displayed a number: Floor 19. As the elevator began to smoothly move upwards, Max realized why it worked this way: anybody could get on the elevator, but only those with clearance could get off on specific floors.

The occupants of the elevator filtered out as it stopped at floor after floor, until at last the computerized voice informed her that they had arrived at floor 19: Disaster Relief & Reparations.

Max stepped out as the elevator doors shut behind her. This level of the tower looked different from the atrium, appearing more like an ordinary office building. Max spotted more than a dozen people seated in chairs lining the hallway. Many of them held key cards like the one she had in her hand. These, then, were some of the other victims of the attack that morning.

The sound of high heels clicking on linoleum echoed throughout the hallway. The room fell silent as everyone's attention turned towards the person who had just entered the room.

The overwhelming presence belonged to a Hero, one whose face Max had seen in the papers time and time again. She wore a sleek white suit with black trim, which clung to her figure as though it were tailor-made for her body — which it certainly was. Her hands were covered in elegant white gloves. A pin depicting the logo of the Hero Association was affixed to her chest. Her short, blonde hair was cut into a bob, and styled meticulously. Although she was fairly short — most likely around Max's height — the 4-inch stilettos she wore made her appear to tower and her oppressive presence caused all attention in the room to be drawn to her. Like most Heroes, she wore a mask across her face, sleek and pure-white like her suit, out of which her dark eyes shone, appraising everyone in the hallway with a keen, judgmental glance.

_ Wowsers, _ Max thought to herself, _ this was important enough that Oracle herself got involved? _ She felt small in the presence of New Arcadia's number two Hero.

Following behind Oracle was a blonde woman carrying a clipboard. Unlike the Hero, she looked as though she worked in HR. A name tag on her jacket identified her as Taylor.

"That can't be all of them," Oracle said sharply. "This was in the middle of the day at a crowded intersection. Where are the rest?"

"There were thirty-six reported witnesses," Taylor said. "Our reports say that sixteen so far have checked in."

"Of course. I suppose they thought this was optional. Leaving it all to Flashdrive was a mistake," Oracle said, a hint of ire in her tone. "Loverboy probably got distracted and started flirting with fans again."

Taylor shuffled her papers on her clipboard. "We've got data on everyone who was there. We can, like, track the rest..."

Oracle huffed in contempt. "Messy. We need to do this on-site from now on." She then turned and addressed the crowd. "All right, listen up. The Hero Association needs to know what each of you saw this morning, for the sake of protecting the people of this city. We will speak with each person individually. Don't bother trying to lie — we'll know. You'll just be wasting your time and mine."

"And if you lost any property or suffered any injury in the event," Taylor piped up, "Let us know, and we'll take care of you." She appeared to scan the names on her clipboard. "Up first... Alyssa Anderson?"

One of the other witnesses stood up and followed Oracle into the room. The door closed behind them, leaving Max, Taylor, and the rest of the witnesses waiting in the hallway in silence. Muffled sounds of talking could be heard from behind the door. As Max stared at the door and wondered what kind of information they had that could possibly be so interesting to the Hero Association, Taylor started making the rounds, taking down everybody's information and soothing them in a reassuring tone.

"That thing fucked up my car!" complained one upset witness. "I'm missing work right now! This had better be important."

Taylor gave him a sympathetic smile. "Of course," she said. "Just tell Oracle everything that happened, and we'll make sure you are reimbursed for your trouble."

After a few minutes, the first woman came out of the interrogation room, and the next witness was brought in. As Alyssa walked past Max towards the elevator, she couldn't help but notice that her eyes seemed a little glazed over.  _ What's up with her? _ Max wondered.

Unable to quell her curiosity, Max got up and intercepted her before she could board the lift.

"Alyssa, right?" Max asked, resting a hand on her shoulder. Alyssa looked at her, confusion flashing across her face. "What did Oracle want to know?"

"I... umm..." She looked at Max, her gaze drifting away as she did. She seemed to be in a daze. "Sorry... I don't... really know..."

Seeing their conversation by the elevator, Taylor quickly approached them. "Sorry, but you need to have a seat and wait your turn," she told Max. "Miss Anderson has had a very stressful day. Please don't antagonize her any further."

_ Crap, _ Max thought. _ I'm not gonna get any information out of her this way. Maybe asking directly isn't going to work... _

Suddenly she had an idea. At her side, she stretched out the fingers of her right hand and focused on summoning up the feeling of rewinding time. As she watched, Taylor and Alyssa moved backwards, retracing their steps to return to their positions from half a minute ago. Max positioned herself so that as Alyssa emerged from the room, eyes glazed over, she bumped shoulders with Max and stumbled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Max said as she leaned down to grab Alyssa's elbow to help her to her feet. The woman looked up at Max, confused.

"It's... whatever," said Alyssa. She appeared very distracted and not entirely coherent. Was she like this before meeting with Oracle?

"It's my bad. I can be such a klutz sometimes," Max said. She gave Alyssa a look of concern. "Hey, are you all right? That monster sure was freaky, right? I know I'm still spooked."

"Monster?... I dunno what you mean," Alyssa said, her eyes drifting away from Max's again.

Immediately, Taylor was at their side again, interrupting them. "Excuse me," she said, "But could you please leave Miss Anderson alone? She's had a very stressful day." She turned towards Alyssa. "You may leave now, Miss Anderson. Thank you for all your trouble."

Alyssa nodded, and left by way of the elevator. Max returned to her seat and contemplated what she'd just heard. Either Alyssa somehow didn't see the monster, or... meeting with Oracle had done something that had affected her mentally. Oracle was a metahuman, wasn't she? Max wracked her brain for what kind of powers she could have. If it was somehow possible for her to alter or erase people's memories, then that could be an explanation for Max's own missing memories...

Another person left the room with Oracle, and then Max heard Taylor's voice say, "Maxine Caulfield?"

_ Ah, right, alphabetical order, _ she thought, getting up from her chair. A feeling of tension seemed to emanate from behind the door as Max pushed it open and stepped inside.

The room within was darkened, the only light coming from a screen on the far wall that was projecting a still image of the Hero Association logo. Seated in a high-backed chair, lit from behind by the silver screen, was Oracle. Her fingers were steepled, and her dark eyes glinted in the low light.

Max had heard she had a flair for the dramatic, but this felt a bit over-the-top.

"Sit," Oracle told her, pointing to the chair opposite her with a white-gloved hand. Max sat down, eyeing the Hero warily. Was all this really necessary? It felt like she was a suspect being interrogated. She set her mouth in a line and said nothing as Oracle scrutinized her.

"Maxine Caulfield," Oracle said after pause. "What were you doing at the scene of the event this morning?"

_ The 'event,' not villain attack, _ Max thought. "Um, I prefer Max, actually, not Maxine. And I was getting a coffee," she answered. "Then I heard a noise outside, so I came out to investigate."

"Describe what you saw."

"There was — some kinda monster, like a deer-man. It looked like it was once a human, but I saw it grow antlers and a second set of arms, and it started to go berserk," Max recalled. "It started picking up cars and flinging them everywhere. People were screaming and running away." _ I was able to get some pretty good pictures, too... _

Oracle arched an eyebrow with interest. "Why didn't you run yourself?"

"I—" Max hesitated. "I'm a photojournalist for the New Arcadia Times. When things like this happens... it's my job to document them."

"Using that camera?" Oracle pointed at the camera which hung around Max's neck.

"Umm... yeah," Max said, unsure where this line of questioning was going.

"Show me the pictures you took," Oracle ordered. Max hesitated.

"These are my work," she said, holding onto the camera. "I— I need to get them to the newsroom. I'm not sure I should be giving them out before then..."

"Don't be ridiculous," scoffed Oracle. "Who do you think you are, defying a direct order from the Hero Association? This information is crucial for the safety of this city. I could charge you with impeding an active investigation. Now, _ give it here _ ," she ordered, and there was a weight behind her command, a kind of pressure that felt like more than just words alone.

Max handed her the camera, even as she thought,  _ you aren't the police, you can't charge me with anything _ . Oracle opened up the camera and flipped through the photos, starting with the most recent ones. As she encountered the picture of Nathan Prescott standing above the fallen body of the monster, she grimaced.

"Dammit, Nathan," she muttered under her breath, in a tone that Max thought wasn't meant for her to hear. She continued flipping through the photos on the camera, back through the dynamic shots of Flashdrive engaging the monster in battle, the deer-man holding a car over its head, and then the first pictures she'd taken at the early stages of its transformation. Then she scrolled a bit further back, and Max felt a blush of embarrassment as she looked at the pictures Max had taken of her coffee cup earlier that morning.

"Woooow," Oracle said, scrolling through the coffee cup photos, the corner of her lips curled in a smirk. "You must really like coffee."

Max's face grew hot. It felt like the Hero was making fun of her. "That — it's not like that. I was practicing with the different camera settings. And this has nothing to do with what happened this morning."

"Hmm," Oracle said, ignoring her as she scrolled even further back beyond the coffee photos. As she scrolled back past, Max remembered the other pictures she'd seen on the SD card. The nondescript images of a graffiti-covered alley and the black-and-white interior space flashed past without triggering any reaction. Then Oracle arrived at the image of the beautiful woman with the feather earring, and her eyes widened in surprise. She peered closely at the camera screen and zoomed in on the woman's face, as though making sure of something. Apparently convinced by what she'd seen, she set the camera down on the table.

"You need to give us this camera," she told Max.

"What? I—I can't," Max protested. "It's not my camera, it's a loaner from work. And I need those pictures!" She wasn't about to hand over her only chance to redeem herself in the eyes of the paper and Mark Jefferson.

"Don't mess around. We need it as evidence, so  _ hand it over _ ," Oracle ordered.

Max found her hand automatically move to pick up the camera and hand it to Oracle.  _ What am I doing? _ She thought as she did. _ I don't want to give her this. So why am I... _

She held out the camera to Oracle all the same. Her white-gloved fingers closed around the body of the camera and she smiled.

"The Hero Association thanks you for your assistance," she said, her voice dripping honey-sweet.

"But I— what did you—" Max tried to say, but she continued to feel that pressure on her mind, fuzzing her thoughts as she tried to figure out what was going on.

_ I can't... let her do this, _ Max thought desperately, although she was having increasing difficulty remembering what  _ her _ and  _ this _ meant.

"You should just  _ forget _ you saw anything and  _ go home _ ," ordered Oracle, and Max felt her words impact on her mind like heavy lead. She unsteadily got to her feet and started to move to the door, a pervasive tiredness filling up her body and her bones.

_ Not if I can help it, _ thought Max, and as she was about to exit the room, she twitched the fingers of her right hand and forced time to rewind. As soon as she exited the flow of linear time, it felt like a 2-ton weight had been lifted from her head. She looked over at Oracle.  _ She's using her metahuman abilities on me,  _ Max realized. _ She must be able to compel people with her words. I need to find a way to get her to let me go without taking my camera or making me forget what happened. _

As she released her Rewind, Oracle seemed to do a double-take. Max realized that she was standing several feet away from the chair where she'd been seated a moment before. From Oracle's shocked expression, Max had gone from sitting in the chair to standing across the room in an instant.

"What the hell—" Oracle began, glancing between Max and the empty chair.

"Whoops," Max said, and returned to the chair before rewinding a few seconds. It was best to not reveal to Oracle the fact that she had powers.  _ Better keep my cards close to my chest. _

Oracle was holding Max's camera in her hands, looking at the photos that were on it. "Wooow," she was saying, "You must really like coffee."

This was going nowhere. But with Max's knowledge and her time powers, there was no reason she couldn't turn this to her advantage and gather some intel, before rewinding it away. She would just need to leverage what she knew and see what reaction Oracle gave to it.

Max took a deep breath. She looked the Hero in the face. "Is the Association trying to cover this up?"

"Um, excuse me?!" Oracle looked up from Max's camera, confusion and something else flashing across her face.

"Everything you're doing here... you're squeezing people for information, and then making them forget what they saw. It's because you already know what's going on, right? There's something you're trying to keep from us, and it has to do with what caused that monster attack." Max took a deep breath. "This is about Vortex, isn't it?"

"You— how can you know about that? You're only a civilian!" snapped Oracle. "You've got no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm a reporter. I know more than you think. And based on your reaction, you do know what I'm talking about. So..." She held out a hand. "Give my camera back, and give me one good reason not to go public with the knowledge I have here."

Oracle sat back in her chair, eyebrows raised. "Woooow, suddenly the little mouse has a backbone. Look at you, trying to tell me what to do. It's almost adorable." She flipped a wrist at Max. "You need a reason? Fine, I'll give you a reason: you are going to _ give me your camera _ and _ forget all of this _ and  _ leave _ ."

Max felt Oracle's commands fall on her mind with paralyzing force. Her conscious mind rapidly felt as though it was shrouded in thick fog, much as she fought against Oracle's iron will. Her body started to get up from her chair and walk towards the door, leaving the camera in Oracle's hands.

_ I... can't, _ she thought with her last remaining bit of willpower, and she used her Rewind again. Time and conversation spun backwards, this time returning to moments before she handed Oracle the camera. As she did, she felt her thoughts returning to her head, along with a pounding headache.  _ Don't think I can do this too many more times. I need to find a way to escape from here... _

It seemed like any time she did anything the least bit suspicious, Oracle would activate her own powers, making Max do exactly as she dictated. She would try and compel Max to forget everything she saw as soon as she saw the photos on the camera, or as soon as Max showed any curiosity about the event.

Maybe she should try the opposite approach this time.

"Show me the pictures you took," Oracle was saying, although Max felt no compulsion to act this time. It seemed like Oracle would only use her powers when Max showed resistance or insubordination.

"...Okay," Max said after a pause. She ejected the SD card from her camera and placed it in Oracle's palm.

"Huh? You mean..." Oracle seemed surprised, like she expected Max to put up more of a fight. "All right, fine," she said, closing her hand around the small plastic card.

"If it's for the Hero Association, then, sure," Max said with a shrug. "I can just take pictures of something else for my work." She got up from her chair. "But I really gotta get going. My boss will kill me if I'm late for another deadline."

"You—" Oracle seemed flustered, as though she wasn't expecting Max to go along with her demands without complaint. She quickly regained her composure, however, running a hand through her short blonde hair. "Yes, thank you for your assistance. You can— go, now."

Max got up. She still held all her memories of that morning, and she still had the camera, although the photographs were in Oracle's possession.

_ That sucks, _ she thought,  _ but it's more important that I remember everything that happened this morning. _

She pushed open the door and exited the room, keeping her head down so as to not draw any more attention to herself. She headed towards the elevator door, trying to think through what had just happened in the room with Oracle. The Hero Association was definitely acting suspicious. It seemed likely they knew about Vortex, and were maybe engaged in an active cover-up. She needed to talk to somebody about it...

_ Chloe. _ Max needed to find her again. Chloe was the only person she could talk to about this, and the only person she could trust with the truth about her new power.  Based on the clues she gave Max, she had a pretty good idea where the other girl might be.

\---

After the final witness left the lobby, Taylor poked her head in the interrogation room with Oracle.

"That's the last of them," she said as she stepped inside. She flipped a switch by the door and the room illuminated more brightly.

Oracle had taken off her mask, removed her white gloves and loosened her suit. She had her shoes up on the table and was intently scanning through images on a tablet screen, her brow furrowed. When she didn't look up, Taylor cleared her throat to get her attention.

"Did you find anything interesting, Victoria?" Taylor asked.

Oracle — Victoria — gave a dramatic sigh. "God, that took for _ ever _ ," she complained. "I swear, talking to these normies is just like, what's the use? They just want to cash a check and get on with their boring ass lives."

"Well... they did, like, almost get killed by a giant evil monster," Taylor pointed out. Victoria flapped a hand at her dismissively.

"Whatever. What matters is that none of them knew what was going on. Except... look at this," she said, pointing at the screen. "You remember that twee little reporter girl, Maxine?"

"Um, I think so. She, like, tried asking some of the other witnesses about what they saw."

"She's nosy," Victoria agreed. "And there's something suspicious about her. Bring up her file," she ordered.

"Um, all right," Taylor said. She made a gesture with her fingers on her clipboard, and then Max's face appeared on the big screen, along with some demographic information, which Taylor scrolled through. "Maxine Caulfield, age 21. Moved to New Arcadia City a month ago. Place of employment: New Arcadia Times. So she's not lying about that," Taylor said. "I totally trust your intuition and all that, but she doesn't seem super suspicious to me."

"Then you're not looking hard enough," said Victoria. "These pictures..." She scrutinized the images of the crime scene, of the deer-man standing among the corpses of smashed cars, how the camera had zoomed in to capture the glowing whites of the monster's eyes. "She knows more than she's letting on. I think someone tipped her off."

"...About the Vortex incidents?" Taylor asked.

"Well, how else did she end up there right when it happened?" Victoria pointed to the corner of one of the photos, where a blue-haired person was standing, their back turned towards the camera. "This person here... they witnessed the crime scene but didn't show up for interrogation. Who are they?"

"That would be..." Taylor scanned her records. "SkyCam says her name is Chloe Price. An associate of Maxine's, maybe?"

Victoria tsked. "I thought I recognized her. Bring up her file too."

With another gesture, Chloe's file appeared on the big screen. In her photo, which appeared to be a bugshot, she was glaring sullenly and flipping off the camera. "Yikes," Taylor said, scrolling through her record. "Chloe Price, age 22. Born in New Arcadia. Currently employed at the Doe & Fawn cafe. No living family. Says here she's got a criminal record... mainly misdemeanors, public intoxication, vandalism, traffic violations. Hard to say how they might know each other, if Maxine just moved to the city."

"Now, why in the world would Chloe Price and Maxine know one another..." Victoria wondered aloud as she kept scrolling through the images on the SD card. She scrolled past the pictures of the crime scene and then like twenty photos of the exact same coffee cup. Rolling her eyes, she kept scrolling back further and further, past the pictures of urban graffiti and the black-and-white hallways, until she got to the very last image: the blonde girl with the feather earring, reclining in a model's pose and looking back at the camera with a flirtatious smirk.

Taylor dropped her clipboard on the ground. "Holy shit," she said. "Is that  _ Rachel Amber? _ "

Victoria stood up suddenly. Her mask clattered on the table. Her mouth was set in a thin line as she stared at the photograph.

"Call Brooke," Victoria ordered, her voice icy. "Tell her we have a lead on the Tempest case. And send word to the requisition squad."

"You want to detain her?" protested Taylor. "But she's just a civilian!"

"If she's just a civilian, then why was she hanging out with Rachel Amber's old partner in crime? And why does she have a picture of her on her camera? No..." Victoria shook her head. "Maxine Caulfield isn't just some meek girl in the wrong place at the wrong time. There's more to her than a bad haircut and terrible fashion sense."

"Oh-kay then," said Taylor. "If you insist, I'll send word to our requisition team to collect them both."

Victoria stared at the holoscreens that showed both womens' profiles. "Caulfield and Price... they're up to something. The Association needs to know what they know." Her dark eyes burned with serious intensity. "Tell them to use force, if necessary. We need to capture them both — no matter what."


	5. Day One - Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max goes to meet Chloe at the lighthouse and tell her the truth about her powers.

_ "Why Arcadia Bay? Scholars have long puzzled over the significance of why this particular region of the Oregon coast continues to manifest metahumans among its population at 100 times the frequency of the rest of the world. Though the cause has never been fully identified, the impact cannot be overstated: Arcadia Bay's transformation from a forgettable fishing village to a major urban metropolis can all be traced back to this simple fact." _

\- Mark Jefferson, "The Origin of Metahumans"

\---

When Chloe had said to meet at "our special place," there was only one location she could have been referring to: the lighthouse on the cliff overlooking the Bay.

Max had many fond memories of that place from when she was younger. Visiting it had been on her bucket list since moving back into the city, but with her busy work schedule, she hadn't managed to find the time to go back there yet. Now, though, as she disembarked from the city bus on the outskirts of town, it felt like just the right time.

She slung her camera bag over her shoulder and walked into the parking lot beside the beach.  It was late in the day, and the sun shone low and golden in the sky. The sea breeze and sound of waves crashing on the shore surrounded her with a peaceful feeling. In the distance, silhouetted against the setting sun was the shape of the ever-present lighthouse atop the cliff, the light in its eye flickering like a candle flame. This was a different side of New Arcadia, reminding her that less than a century ago, this town was just a small fishing town on the Oregon coast. It was hard to imagine there had once been a time before the rise of Heroes, before Arcadia was a city worth putting on any map. This far away from the city's center, it almost felt like she had travelled back decades in time. Standing here in this parking lot, she could pretend as though this was still peaceful old Arcadia Bay.

The parking lot was mostly empty of cars, the majority of its visitors having gone home for the day. But one thing was unmistakable, and that was the hulking, rusted figure of Chloe's ancient truck, double-parked and clipping into a handicapped space.  _ She's already here, _ thought Max. _ I hope I didn't make her wait very long. _

Max approached the entrance to the trail on the edge of the parking lot. The sign warned her that the public park was closed after dark; based on the angle of the sun in the sky, it would likely be dark by the time she and Chloe were finished talking about everything. She stepped over the chain and started her way up the winding trail to the top of the cliff. She'd taken it for granted as a kid, but now that she was (mostly) an adult she could appreciate the efforts the Arcadia Bay historical society had put into preserving this place and restoring it after the Cataclysm. It was a small miracle that the Prescotts hadn't seized this land and developed it into more luxury condominiums.

A rustling among the bushes to the side of the trail made Max jump and turn around quickly. She spotted the large, dark form of a deer fleeing through the underbrush. She breathed a sigh of relief and realized that the events of the day had put her way more on-edge than usual. Or maybe her fear was just due to the fact that she'd witnessed a deer-headed monster destroy an entire city block that morning.

She allowed herself to relax a little as she climbed the rest of the way up to the peak of the cliff. As she emerged from the wooded path into the clearing, she was greeted by a familiar sight. The glittering metropolis of New Arcadia spread out in the valley before her, golden sunlight glinting off the glass and metal of its skyscrapers. The sunlight shimmered on the surface of the Pacific Ocean, where enormous ships were sailing in and out of the Bay, loaded up with shipping containers and cruise passengers. The tiny specks of drones flew in lazy circles in the sky above the city, which was tinged pink from air pollution. In a few minutes, they were sure to witness a spectacular sunset.

To her right was the lighthouse, Arcadia Bay's ever-present guardian. It had been rebuilt after the Cataclysm and reinforced, so that it could weather any storm. Its red and white exterior was covered in carvings and graffiti tags, serving as a record of the endless teenagers and vandal punks who snuck out there to escape the crush of the city. To Max, it was a reminder of her childhood, before her parents had uprooted them and moved further north, to Seattle. Every time she thought back to her happy memories as a kid, one thing was constant: Chloe Price was in every single one of them.

Chloe, who was now seated in the lone bench on the edge of the cliff, watching the sunset. Her blue hair rustled in the sea breeze. She looked so picturesque in front of the golden sky that Max couldn't resist taking a candid photo. She got down on one knee and snapped a photo of Chloe framed against the setting sun.

At the sound of her camera's shutter, Chloe turned back to look at her. A grin formed on her face as she saw Max.

"Sneaky Max! Taking a picture of me while I wasn't looking! Look at you, following me around like my own personal Paparazzi."

Max shrugged. "Guilty as charged," she said. "I couldn't help it. You looked really, um, I mean, the light was just right, and..."

"It's okay, Max. You can just admit it: you think I'm hot," Chloe teased.

"I mean— that's not—" Max replied, flustered. She was never very good at responding to flirting — particularly when the person was her best friend from childhood. Still, she had to admit that this new punk Chloe was pretty, objectively speaking anyway, with her short blue hair, and her toned arms with the awesome tattoo, and, and—

"Sheesh, I'm just teasing. You look like you're about to have a blue screen of death over there," Chloe said. She laughed and patted the bench next to her. "Siddown, Max. You've had a hell of a day."

"No kidding," Max said, taking a seat beside her. She set her tote bag down and stared out at the sunset over the horizon, her thoughts whirling around rapidly in her mind. What should they talk about first? Should she come clean about her time powers, or ask Chloe about what she knew about the Hero Association? Or should she confront her about Vortex, and their meeting on the rooftop that only Max could remember? And what about Tempest? So much had happened in the last 24 hours...

Seagulls called as the sounds of the ocean surrounded them. Finally, it was Chloe who broke the silence.

"D'you remember that time we snuck up here on our own?" she asked. Max turned her head to look at her; she was looking away, at the towering white and red shape of the lighthouse. "I got grounded for doing something stupid, but then you showed up outside my window and we snuck out together. We rode the bus out here... it really felt like we were pirates back then."

"I remember," said Max. "Didn't we carve our names into the lighthouse?"

"Yup," said Chloe. "I wonder if it's still there? Hang on, I wanna check," she said, getting up from her seat. Max followed her as she approached the lighthouse. They wandered around to the side that faced the ocean, Chloe scanning its exterior for evidence of their past vandalism. In between the gang tags and hearts bearing initials, next to a triangle made up of strange runes, she spotted it: the carvings that Chloe had made with her pocketknife, more than eight years ago.

"Ah- ha !" Chloe exclaimed, pointing with her finger. Half of it had long since been covered with black spray paint. Now the message read;

_ Chloe and ---  _ _   
_ _ BFF Pira---  _ _   
_ __ 20--

"Damn it," Chloe said, "looks like some asshole tagged over your name. Sorry, Max."

"That's not your fault, Chlo," Max said, using one of their old nicknames.

"I know, but still, it's kinda shitty," Chloe said. "I mean, c'mon, this was our spot."

"I didn't know you got so territorial... it's just graffiti. Loads of people put their names up here," Max pointed out.

"Just graffiti? I'll show you just graffiti," Chloe said, taking a black marker out of her pocket. She uncapped it with her teeth, and then took Max's arm in her hands. Max sat paralyzed as Chloe wrote a string of numbers up her forearm, before re-capping the pen.

"Chloe, is this—"

"My number," Chloe said gleefully. "So now you don't have an excuse not to text."

"Oh," said Max. "Isn't this permanent marker?"

"Maaaaybe," she said, with a grin. Max considered rewinding to get the numbers off her skin, but Chloe seemed pleased with herself, so she let it slide.

They returned to the bench and sat down. Chloe's blue eyes met Max's, and she gave a crooked smile. "...Man. Today's been so freaking crazy. First the news about Tempest... and then you show up again after seven years of radio silence... then a fucked-up deer monster attacks outta nowhere... and then the Heroes show up and steal you away."

"Yeah, no kidding..." Max said.

Chloe gave her a pointed look. "So how was it? Meeting your heroes at last?"

"Honestly..." Max frowned. "It was pretty nerve-wracking. Oracle showed up and started questioning us one-on-one."

"Oh shit, Oracle? Guess this must've been pretty important, if Queen Bee herself decided to intervene," Chloe said. "What didja think of her? Was she different in person than on TV?"

"She was...  _ meaner _ than I expected," said Max. "She made fun of my photography... and it seemed like she knew more about the incident but she wasn't telling us."  _ Not to mention, when I brought up Vortex, she freaked out on me... _

"Did she use her powers on you?"

"Yeah..." Max sighed. "She made me give her all the photos I took from the attack this morning. Said they were important evidence that the Association needed for their investigation. I'm just lucky she didn't take my camera too."  _ Not that she didn't try... but I was able to get around it using my Rewind. _

"Seriously? But you risked your life to take those photos!" Chloe shook her head. "These fuckin' a-holes think they can just do whatever they want..."

Max gave her a curious look. "Chloe... you don't like the Hero Association very much, do you?"

"Why the hell should I? Seven years ago, after that Villain killed Dad... they promised us they would catch him and bring him to justice. But they didn't. He's still out there... and the Association isn't doing shit, because they just don't care." Chloe stared out at the horizon. Her eyes burned with simmering fury. "...And they couldn't save Joyce, either."

A cold feeling washed over Max. "...Oh, Chloe... I had no idea you lost your mom, too." Max remembered Joyce from when they were kids; she was always kind and supportive, and put up with their mischief. Her bacon-and-waffle breakfasts were to die for. "When did she—"

"Five years ago," Chloe choked out. "...Two years after you left. There was this... fire."

Max gasped. "I remember," she said. "It destroyed a quarter of the city, including our whole neighborhood where we grew up."

"The Heroes were there, and they rescued the lucky ones," Chloe said. "Joyce... wasn't one of them." She glared out towards the setting sun, which stained the clouds hovering by the horizon with a glowing red hue.

"Chloe... I'm so sorry," Max said.

"The Hero Association has never done anything for me. They couldn't catch the Villain that killed Dad, they didn't save mom, they forced me to live with my asshole of a stepdad, they took my best friend—" she balled her hands into fists. " _ Fuck _ those guys. They don't give a shit about New Arcadia... all they care about is putting on a show for the TV cameras, so that they can keep on cashing their big-ass paychecks from their sponsors. Some days I just wish that fucking tower would just burn to the ground with everyone inside."

"Chloe..." Max wanted to reach out and grab her hand. But her hand froze inches away from Chloe's, as though an invisible wall were separating them.

"...And now they're giving you shit, too," Chloe said, looking over at Max. "Making you give up your work... shaking people down and interrogating them because of their own secret agenda. They're hiding something, I'm sure of it."

Max blinked. Chloe had said what she was thinking the whole time. "Actually... I think you might be right about that," she said.

Chloe seemed excited to hear Max's validation. "Really? You think so too?"

Max nodded. Now was her chance to ask Chloe about what she knew. This was going to be a difficult conversation, but she needed to have it. "Chloe... what do you know about Vortex?"

Whatever Chloe was expecting her to ask, it wasn't about that. Her eyes widened and she immediately stood up from the bench and took several paces back.

"I — I don't know where you heard about that," she said, a quaver in her voice, "but, Max, that shit is hella dangerous and illegal. Uh, that's what I know, anyway."

Max shook her head. "You don't have to lie to me," she said. "I know more than you think. I know you're working for Dogcatcher... you've been running drugs for him, haven't you?"

"The fuck are you on about?!" Chloe's voice turned shrill as she stepped further back. "You — there's no way you could've—" Her expression turned cold. She looked at Max with hurt and betrayal in her eyes. "You fucking snitch! You're just... _ using  _ me for your next scoop!"

"No, that's not true—"

"Bullshit it isn't! I thought you wanted to reconnect... that was the reason you showed up at my cafe this morning, isn't it? You thought you could pretend to be my friend again, so you could get ahead in your oh-so-important job with the Times."  Chloe spat her accusations like venom.

Panic rose up in Max's chest. "Chloe, that's not — I wasn't using you, I swear! If you'd let me explain..."

"Explain? How about you explain why you ghosted me for seven years, Max?! I needed you then, and you abandoned me..."

"Wait, I—"

"Shut up! You're just like everyone else in my life. You're using me without giving a shit about how I feel! Get the fuck away from me!" She turned her back and started to sprint away, back down the path towards the parking lot.

"Chloe, wait!" called Max. But Chloe didn't respond as she vanished down the trail.  _ Shit, _ she thought.  _ I really made her mad. This isn't gonna work... I should try a different approach. _

She extended her hand and started to rewind time. Reality shuddered and rippled around them as Chloe moved backwards, from down the path, up to beside the lighthouse facing Max. She released her hold on the time stream.

"—Hella dangerous and illegal. Uh, that's what I know, anyway."

_ Accusing her of being involved with Dogcatcher isn't going to work, _ Max thought.  _ If I'm going to get at the truth, I can't violate her trust like that. Time to try something different... _

"I think it was the cause behind the attack we saw this morning," Max said instead.

Chloe gave her an odd look. "What makes you say that?"

"The deer-man... his eyes were glowing white. That's a symptom of the drug, isn't it? And they say Vortex gives you superpowers, so..."

Chloe frowned. "Yeah, but... how d'you know all this stuff, anyway?"

"I'm a reporter. I've been tracking this story for weeks," she said. "We got some inside tips. That's what I was doing yesterday, when I lost my camera. I was chasing a lead..."

"If you say you know what you're doing, then..." Chloe looked concerned. "Still, Max, you really shouldn't be messing with that stuff. Some of the biggest criminals in the city are involved with it. I... don't want to see you get hurt."

_ You're the one who should be more worried, _ Max thought, as she remembered the times where, twice now, she'd seen Chloe die before reversing it with her rewind power. "I'm not planning to get involved myself. I just need to document it, for the sake of finding the truth." She tapped her camera sitting in her lap.

"You are a strange one, Caulfield," Chloe said. "...You're right, though. I don't know much about Vortex, but... glowing eyes are definitely a symptom of the drug. Um, from what I heard... around."

"So it's true? Does it give you powers, too?" Max leaned in more closely.

Chloe shrugged. "Supposedly. Never tried the stuff myself, so I couldn't tell you."

_ But I saw her on Vortex yesterday,  _ Max thought. _ Is she lying? _ She examined Chloe's face closely. Between the two of them, Chloe had always been the more adept liar; but Max had once been quite good at telling when she was hiding something. After so many years of separation, it was hard for Max to be certain. She couldn't really say she knew Chloe now — that carefree, reckless young girl was hidden within layers of a person that Max did not yet understand.

"Uh, Max? You're staring," Chloe pointed out.

"Sorry..." Max's face flushed as she averted her eyes to the ground. _ Great, now I feel awkward as hell... _

Chloe cleared her throat. Then she walked back to the bench and sat down again beside Max. "...So. Why d'you think it's connected to that freak of nature we fought this morning?"

"That deer-man..." Max recalled what they'd seen that morning, how that man had undergone a gruesome mutation into a monster right before their eyes. "People don't just suddenly manifest metahuman powers out of the blue like that, right? And it didn't look like he was doing it on purpose. I think he was in a lot of pain — that's why he went berserk."

"So what, are you saying you feel sorry for that freak? Really?" Chloe raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well... I think that something might have happened to him, to make him transform like that. If there was a drug that gives you superpowers, then that could explain what happened, couldn't it?"

"Not a bad theory, Max... but how are the Heroes involved?"

"Well, based on what I saw at the Headquarters this afternoon, I'm pretty sure the Hero Association knows... and I think they're trying to cover it up."

"The Heroes know? Well... shit," said Chloe. "What makes you say that?"

"Well... when I mentioned Vortex to Oracle, she told me that I shouldn't know anything about that, and ordered me to keep my mouth shut. So clearly she knows about it. And she confiscated my photos, so that I couldn't publish them in the Times."

Chloe looked concerned. "If Oracle ordered you, then how the hell are you still talking about it? She can control people with her words. If she told you to obey, then you shouldn't even be talking with me right now..."

"I know," Max said. "And I can explain, but... I need to know something first." She took a deep breath. Now was the time, more than ever. "Chloe, do you trust me?"

"Do I—" Chloe paused. She looked conflicted. "I wanna trust you, Max. You hella saved my ass this morning from that deer monster. But... you also were gone for seven years. You weren't there for me when I lost Dad, or Mom... so how can I trust you now?"

_ She's right, _ thought Max.  _ She's been lonely and hurting for these past seven years, and I haven't been there for her. How can I possibly make up for that now? _ She looked at Chloe, who was silently staring at the horizon, anger and pain simmering behind her blue eyes.

A sudden burst of resolve gripped Max's chest.  _ I wasn't there for her back then, but... that doesn't mean I can't support her now, _ she thought, and she reached out and grabbed Chloe's hand in hers. Chloe looked at their joined hands, then up at Max, a surprised expression on her face as tears shone in her wide eyes.  _ She deserves to know the truth. _

"Chloe," Max said. "The reason I'm asking is because there's something I have to tell you. Something... hardcore."

"What are you talking about, Max...?"

"The reason I was able to avoid Oracle's mind control... and also the reason I was able to save you from the deer monster this morning," Max said. "I can explain, but I need you believe me when I say that I would never lie to you. Not about something like this."

Chloe gave her a confused look. "Max... what in the world are you saying?"

"I discovered something yesterday... about myself." Max locked eyes with Chloe and tightened her grip on her hand. "Chloe... I'm a Metahuman. I have the power to reverse time."

A long silence stretched between them. The sea breeze rustled through the needles of the pine trees and buffeted the blue locks of Chloe's hair as she stared at Max, mystified.

"That's... not possible," Chloe said, blinking in disbelief.

"I know, it sounds crazy," Max said. She released her grip on Chloe's hand and held out her right hand in front of them, palm facing upwards. "I can barely believe it, either. It seems impossible. But it's true." She looked up at Chloe. "This morning, when the monster attacked... I watched you die."

"I — I died?!" Chloe looked panicked. "You're kidding..."

Max nodded. "The monster stabbed you with its antlers, and I freaked. So I held out my hand, like this, and—" she gestured with her right hand. "I was able to rewind time about 30 seconds, distract him with the hubcap long enough that we could escape."

"No freakin' way..."

"And then, this afternoon," Max continued. "When I was in front of Oracle, and she was trying to make me forget everything that happened — each time she tried, I turned back time. I did that until I found a way to get her to let me go without taking my memories, or my camera."

"Max, this is..." Chloe shook her head. "This is totally wild..."

"I know," Max said. "It's been a weird-ass couple of days. But getting these powers, and meeting you, it doesn't feel like a coincidence. Feels like it's all connected."

"Gimme a sec, Max," Chloe said. She reached a hand into the pocket of her jacket, as if searching for something. "You just told me you're a human time machine, and I'm way too sober for this." After a moment, she produced a cigarette case and a lighter. As Max watched, she removed a hand-rolled joint from the case and placed it between her lips. Cupping a hand to shield the flame from the wind, she lit the end of the joint and inhaled deeply. She exhaled a long gust of smoke out through her nose, the sickly-sweet scent of weed filling the air.

"...God, that's way better," she said, before holding the lit joint out towards Max. She stared at for a moment before it clicked that Chloe was offering her a hit. She shook her head no, so Chloe shrugged and took another drag.

Worry bloomed in Max's chest. Her eyes searched Chloe's face, which appeared neutral as she  "You don't... hate me, do you?"

Chloe frowned. "Why would I?"

"Well..." Max twisted her hands. "You're pissed at the Hero Association, and a metahuman killed your dad... I'd understand if you hate all metahumans because of it."

"Max..." Chloe shook her head. "I don't hate metahumans. And even if I did, I could never hate you. If what you're saying is true, then... you saved my freakin' life this morning. I'm only still here 'cause of you!" To Max's surprise, she started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Max asked her.

"It's just — just now, you reminded me of Rachel," Chloe said.

Max blinked. "Who's Rachel?"

"I guess since you trusted me with your secret, then you deserve to know..." She twirled the joint between her fingers, its glowing tip leaving trails in the gathering dusk. "Five years ago, I met someone who changed my life. Rachel Amber. She... trusted me with a secret. Like you did just now."

Max looked at her, confused. "What kind of person was she?"

Chloe had a nostalgic look in her eye, and she wore a small smile on her lips. "Rachel was — my everything. If it weren't for her..." Chloe shook her head. "I sure as hell wouldn't be here, talking to you."

"Wowsers... she sounds like she was really important to you," Max said. This was a whole other dimension to Chloe that was entirely new to Max. She wanted to know more about Rachel Amber. "What was she like?"

"Rachel was incredible. Beautiful and smart and charismatic. I still don't get what she saw in me..." Chloe shook her head. "I met her after I lost Mom. They made me move in with my step-douche, David. I fucking hated his guts. So of course... I ran away. But I wasn't alone."

"I guess you ran away together with her?"

Chloe nodded. "Rachel's our age, and her family was — out of the picture, just like mine. We found each other, and together, found a way to make it work. For a few years we just scraped by however we could." She stared out at the sunset, its orange and red lights reflected in her eyes. "I'm not gonna lie, Max... it was rough, back then. We had each other, at least, but... some of the stuff we did... I'm not proud of it."

_ That's pretty vague, _ Max thought.  _ I wonder if that's how she got mixed up with Dogcatcher... _

"You keep talking about her in the past tense," Max pointed out. "Is she... gone now?"

Chloe shook her head. "No... well... as far as I'm concerned, she may as well be. We lived together for a few years... Then one day, the Hero Association found out about us. Instead of locking us up, they offered Rachel something better: a real job, and a chance to rise up outta the shit-pit of Arcadia. All she needed to do was to leave her shitty, old life behind."

"I guess she took their offer, then..." Max said. She wondered what type of job it was.

"Yeah, and the thing is — I can't entirely blame her," Chloe glared out towards the horizon, exhaling smoke through her nose. "Somebody like Rachel Amber deserved better than to live in a hobo shack in an abandoned junkyard. Between living like that, and kicking it in the Hero HQ... anyone would've made that choice."

"You don't sound too happy about it, though," said Max.

"...Well, yeah, of course not. I lost my best friend... again," said Chloe, and Max felt a stab of guilt as she realized that Chloe was referring to her, and how she had broken off all contact seven years ago.

"Couldn't you guys stay in touch, though? She's still in the city after all," Max said.

Chloe shook her head. "That's not how the Heroes work. They got all these bullshit rules and regulations when you join them... they control everyone you hang with and keep tabs on you wherever you go. The last thing they want is one of their own to go off and fraternize with some low-life scum like me..."

"You're not scum, Chloe," Max told her.

"In the eyes of the likes of them I am. I'm less than nothing," she said.

It was hard for Max to wrap her mind around the idea that the Hero Association, an organization that was meant to promote peace and prosperity in the city, could have such draconian rules for the people who worked there. But on the other hand, it made sense. Based on its history with past scandals, an organization with as much influence as the Association would need to manage their Heroes and other employees carefully in order to keep their sponsors happy.

"If what you say is true, then... it's makes me wonder what's up with Tempest," Max said. "It sounds like it's very difficult for Heroes to just disappear like that."

A barely noticeable shift passed over Chloe's demeanor. She stubbed out the joint on the armrest of the bench beside her.

"Tempest is fine," she said. "She's a badass, the most powerful metahuman in the city. Nothing can stop her."

"I thought you hated the Heroes?"

"Tempest is different," Chloe insisted. She stared out towards the sunset. "I just know she'll turn up again soon."

Max felt an uneasy feeling in her gut. She remembered what she'd witnessed yesterday from the roof of the apartment complex. The chances that Chloe would believe her were slim, but she needed to say something.

"Chloe," she began, "I saw Tempest yesterday."

Chloe's eyes widened. "Max, that's not possible," she said. "She disappeared two days ago. Nobody's seen her since..."

"I know," said Max. "But that doesn't change what I saw. It has to do with when I realized I had this time power. This is gonna sound crazy, but I swear, I'm telling the truth..." she began, and started to recount her memories of what had happened the day before.

A look of surprise flashed across Chloe's face as Max described chasing down the person in the hoodie. She listened silently, one hand covering her mouth as Max explained confronting them about Vortex, then witnessing the fight between Tempest and the villain.

When she got to the part about Nathan Prescott showing up and betraying Tempest, she turned visibly angry, and growled, "That son of a bitch."

"...And then he shot you, Chloe," Max said. Chloe's eyes met her, showing a mix of panic, confusion, and fear.

"What are you saying—"

"This morning wasn't the first time we met... or the first time I saw you die," Max said. "I know that it was you in the black hoodie. You recognized me, up on the rooftop. You called me by my name."

"No way..." Chloe blinked in disbelief.

"Seeing you get shot... I think that was the first time my powers activated. I saw time reverse itself, like someone had pressed the rewind button on all of reality. Everything faded into a blur... and the next thing I remember is waking up in my own bed this morning." She shook her head. "I'm missing fifteen hours of memories. I don't know why nobody else remembers what happened then, but I can't forget what I saw."

The sun had sunk completely beneath the horizon. A cool night breeze blew through, and Max shivered.

"Holy shit," Chloe said after a long silence. "...You weren't kidding, huh..."

"Do you believe me?"

"Well..." Chloe looked conflicted. "On the one hand, this sounds totally ridiculous. There's no way that Tempest had a huge fight with a villain that no one knows about. But also..." she sighed. "...I guess you do know some things that... there's no reason you would otherwise."

"So... it's true, then? You do work for Dogcatcher," Max said.

Chloe sighed. "Listen Max... after you left, my life went in a completely different direction. I did what I had to in order to survive, all right?"

"I know, Chloe," Max told her. "I'm not... judging you. I just need to know the truth."

"All right, fine. I work for Dogcatcher on the side, sometimes. Are you happy now?" She shook her head. "But I wasn't working for him yesterday. I was actually supposed to run an errand for him, but then he called me up and told me he didn't need me that day. So I kicked it in my apartment instead."

"Huh," said Max.

"But... I might've gone near Hawthorne Park, possibly, if I was working that day," Chloe said. She clutched at her hair. "Ugh, my head hurts tryna figure this shit out."

_ Me, too, _ thought Max. "I know, I've spent all day trying to understand what happened. I... have a theory, but it's gonna sound pretty wack..."

"Hit me," said Chloe.

"Well... since I saw time go backwards, up there on the roof... I think everything I saw happen yesterday was undone. That's why nobody else remembers any of it — it's an alternate timeline."

"Alternate timelines? Time travel? Seriously?" Chloe shook her head. "Max, you know how hard this is to believe... I mean, I want to believe you, but..."

"I know, it sounds totally crazy," Max said. "But I would never lie to you. What I saw yesterday, on that roof... I think it's all connected. These powers, and you, and Tempest, and that Villain, and Vortex, and Nathan Prescott..."

"That cowardly, whiny, privileged prick," seethed Chloe.

Max raised an eyebrow at her. "Wow," she observed, "you really don't like him, huh."

"Nope," she said. "And the next time I see him, I'm gonna punch his dick off."

"Uh... I know he murdered you in an alternate timeline, but... is there something else?" Max asked.

"Well..." Chloe looked aside. "...The tabloids said he was dating Tempest."

"...Ah." Max was beginning to understand why Tempest was Chloe's favorite Hero. It sounded like Chloe had something of a crush.

"For that sick fuck to lay a finger on her... he's gonna get it," Chloe said.

"Whoa, hey, slow down," Max told her. "I actually don't know that much about Nathan Prescott, other than the stuff everybody knows. I think we need more information before we start, uh, punching anybody's dicks off."

Chloe seemed to simmer down. "...You're right," she admitted after a few moments. "Don't even know which of his daddy's mega-mansions the little shrimp is hiding out in... but, I know where we can find out some more info."

Max perked up. "...Where?"

"He's one of Dogcatcher's regulars," Chloe said. "I've made a few, uh, deliveries and collections on his behalf."

"He buys drugs from Dogcatcher? But— he's a Hero," protested Max.

Chloe laughed at that. "...Man, for a reporter, you really have no idea what the underground of New Arcadia is like, do you? News flash: Heroes do  _ hella _ drugs. They're rich, and they're immune to ordinary people laws... and Nathan's daddy's got the deepest pockets in the city. How else d'you think he gets all those fancy toys?"

"Well, I knew that..." Max looked up at her. "If Nathan's doing drugs, and he's a Hero, then maybe he's behind this cover-up at the Hero Association. So if we can get some more details on Nathan, then it might help us find proof that there really is a conspiracy..."

"Max, are you suggesting we work together on this?" In the twilight, Max could barely make out Chloe's expression, but it looked like the hint of a smile on her face.

"Well... with your connections and my time powers..." Max began. "We might be able to figure out what's really going on."

"Yeah, about those powers," said Chloe. "I really do wanna believe you're telling the truth, Max. I'm just gonna need to see some proof before I believe you one hundred percent."

"Of course," Max said. "I'll prove it. Just gotta... figure out how."

Chloe suddenly stood up from the bench. She turned around to face Max in the gathering dusk, and extended her hand to help her to her feet.

"Today's been totally insane," she said, not releasing her grip on Max's hand. "You look worn out, Max. Let's take a rain check on your super powers — we'll meet back up in the morning."

Max tried to protest, but she felt a wave of tiredness that caused her to stagger on her feet. "...Okay," she said. Her head was pounding. She'd had maybe the most intense day of her life. "Where do you want to..."

"You remember Mom's old diner? The Two Whales?"

"Yeah! It's still there?"

"Yup, it's pretty much one of the only places in our old hood that survived the fire," Chloe said. "They do cheap-ass breakfast and unlimited coffee refills. Text me tomorrow morning, I'll meet you there." She gave Max one more look from head to toe.

Max noticed her staring. "What is it?"

"Uh..." Chloe suddenly dropped Max's hand and took a step back. She seemed a little bashful. "I'm just... really glad you're back, that's all." She cleared her throat. "C'mon. I don't think the buses run this late in the day, so I'll give you a lift back to the city."

Chloe started off down the path, beckoning for Max to follow her. After a moment, she started after her, feeling a warm, fizzing sense of anticipation.

Whatever New Arcadia City had in store for them, she and Chloe were going to face it... together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter. This friggin' chapter. It took me about 6 re-writes to finally get a version I was satisfied with... and it's just 2 characters talking to each other! I'm still not 100% satisfied but it's better than nothing.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, thanks for all your lovely comments, and Happy New Years!


	6. Day Two - Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and Chloe meet up at the Two Whales to prove Max's powers and decide on next steps.

_ "When exceptional abilities manifest, it invokes a feeling of awe and reverence among the public. Those capable of wielding such power, which defies all logic and reason, are raised up on a pedestal. Whether it be adoration or fear, the rest of us cannot look away for even a second." _

\- Mark Jefferson, "The Origin of Metahumans"

\---

That morning, as Max emerged from the stairs to the underground metro and saw the Two Whales Diner for the first time in seven years, she paused outside its doors and allowed the nostalgia to wash over her like a wave.

The Two Whales Diner seemed like an anachronistic relic in the middle of the urban center of New Arcadia. It stood In the middle of a busy thoroughfare, beside a full parking lot and opposite a towering office building. Its weathered metal exterior and old-fashioned neon sign hanging overhead might have been antiques. In fact, a plaque out in front denoted it as a historical site, having been a landmark in Arcadia Bay since before the Cataclysm. Based on the size of the crowd inside, it was a popular destination for locals as well as tourists.

Before Max could enter the front door, however, she was hailed by a young man seated at a table out in front, distributing flyers. He wore a suit with a cross pin on his lapel.

"Hello, ma'am!" he called politely. "Have you heard the good news?"

"Um," said Max, approaching his table. The most immediate flyer before her read: "His Greatest Miracle."  _ Oh, _ she thought,  _ it's one of these guys... _

"The miracle of the Heroes prove that God is real, and he has sent his Angel to watch over us," the man said, holding a flyer out for Max to look at. On its glossy surface was a picture of Angel, one of the more popular Heroes in the city. She was looking to the side, away from the camera, lit by soft light from behind. It was clearly a staged photo, but something in Angel's expression seemed real, a genuine honesty. She looked very young, in her late teens or early twenties.

Max accepted the flyer from him. "You think she's... sent by God?"

"Of course! Matthew 13:49: The Angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous." He looked up at the sky, his eyes seeming to shine as he was overwhelmed with faithful devotion. "The Heroes protect us from harm and purge the unrighteous among us. They are goodly souls, blessed by divine providence!"

"Uh-huh," said Max. "What if the Heroes did something wrong?"

"That's not possible. God doesn't make mistakes in His choosing," said the man, barely phased by Max's question. "These miraculous abilities are gifted to those destined to lead us into a new era."

"What about Nathan Prescott? He doesn't have superpowers," Max pointed out. "He's still a member of the Association though."

"That's... the Heroes are a group of many that are doing God's work. So long as Angel is their shining light of guidance, they will always be our moral paragons."

"I thought Oracle was the one in charge, technically?"

A crack began to show in his smiling visage. "I see you are one whose faith is not yet fully formed. But I promise, when you behold such miracles as Angel is able to weave, you will see faith made real."

"Uh— thanks," Max said, putting the religious flyer in her pocket. She thanked the preacher and then disengaged from the conversation as quickly as she could.

_ If the Heroes are on the side of the righteous, then I guess that makes Chloe the opposite of that, whatever that is.  _ She stared at her own hand. _ If my powers are because of God or something, then... what am I supposed to do with them? No pressure, Max. _

She could see no point in dwelling on it any longer, so she pushed open the door to the diner and stepped inside.

The interior of the Two Whales looked as much of a time capsule as its rusty exterior. The decor was now more than a century old, and looked to have been painstakingly restored in the wake of the fire. The center of the floor plan was dominated by the bar, while the exterior was lined with booths upholstered in bright colors. A retro jukebox in the corner was playing a  [ country song ](https://youtu.be/PKpQRjj_WbU) from the early 2000s.

The smell of breakfast, coffee, and the sound of silverware clanking sent Max on a nostalgic reverie, back to when she was a kid. She and Chloe used to always spend their mornings here before school, where Chloe's mom would serve them up a massive plate of eggs and hash browns. Remembering that Joyce was no longer there — that she had perished in the fire, leaving Chloe to fend for herself — squeezed at Max's heart like a vice. Without her, a part of this place seemed empty. She wondered how Chloe could stand coming back.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, so Max got it out and saw that she'd received a text from Chloe.

**Chloe**

_ hey i like just woke up so im running late  _ _   
_ _ get us a booth at the diner, ill meet you there _

**Max**

_ I just got here.  _ _   
_ _ This place hasn't changed a bit since we were kids. It's kinda weird actually. _

**Chloe**

_ yea i guess somebody has a hard-on for historical shit or whatever  _ _   
_ _ plus they give me unlimited free coffee forever cuz of mom  _ _   
_ __ Just tell steph ur with me, she'll hook u up

**Max**

_ I'll find us a booth. But don't take too long! _

**Chloe**

_ can't u just timetravel or something _

**Max**

_ It doesn't work that way!! >:o _

**Chloe**

_ right right sure it doesnt.  _ _   
_ _ Ill be there soon so try not to cause a paradox or whatevs before i get there  _ _   
_ __ p.s. emoji max? Really??

**Max**

_ :I _

**Chloe**

_ I SAID NO EMOJI _

 

Smiling, Max put her phone back in her pocket and scanned the diner for an open booth. Most of the seats were filled by students and office workers, but there was a vacant booth further down towards the end of the diner with the jukebox. She felt somebody bump her shoulder as a large man with a scruffy beard opened the door behind her and made a beeline for the empty seat. He sat down and put his feet up on the tabletop.

_ Oh no you don't, _ Max thought, and rewound time. The man got up and walked backwards to the entrance and back out the door. She released her hold on time, and then before he could enter, she quickly walked over to the booth and sat down there herself. She saw the man re-enter, scan the diner and see that all the booths were occupied, then resign himself to sitting at the bar instead.

_ Score one for Max, _ she thought to herself, even as she reflected that that was a kind of petty and trivial use of her superpowers.  _ Hey, if the guy outside is correct, then I got these powers for a reason... and maybe that reason is securing the best seats at the diner, _ she mused as a young woman approached her booth to take her order.

"Hey, there, welcome to the Two Whales," she said by way of greeting. She wore a beanie over her straight brown hair, and her nametag introduced her as Steph. She appraised Max with a keen glance. "Is it just gonna be you dining with us this morning?"

"No, I'm waiting for a friend," Max said. "You might know her— Chloe Price? She's a regular."

At the mention of Chloe's name, Steph's expression changed. A slight smile appeared on her face. "Hmm, did she tell you she could get you free coffee from me?"

"Uh—" Max replied. "Yeah, she kind of did."

"Typical Chloe. Always the opportunist," Steph said, as she filled a mug with fresh hot coffee and set it before Max. "I haven't seen you around here before, though. How'd you and her get mixed up?" She raised her eyebrows. "Oooh, did she bring you here on a date?"

"A-a date?! Um, no... Chloe's my friend from when we were kids," Max said. "We used to come to this diner together all the time... back when Joyce was... um..." she trailed off.

Steph's expression softened. "You knew Joyce, huh? It's really sad what happened to her," she agreed. "She was a great person, and a good mom to Chloe. She's always got a special place here at the Two Whales." She pointed up on the wall, at a framed portrait that Max hadn't noticed before. It was a photograph of Joyce, smiling behind the counter in her waitress uniform.

"Yeah..." Max said. She remembered the warmth of Joyce's hugs and the delicious bacon-and-waffle breakfasts she used to make for Max and Chloe. It was difficult to process the fact that she was gone forever.

"Since then, the management has tried to keep everything ship-shape, and to look out for her daughter, but man..." Steph shook her head. "Losing her dad and then her mom like that.... it was really rough on Chloe."

"I just wish I'd been there for her," Max said, feeling the clawing guilt over not having kept in touch with Chloe over the past seven years. If she had, maybe Chloe wouldn't have needed to resort to running drugs for Dogcatcher in order to get by...

"Chloe's definitely a fighter, though. And she's a good person, deep down, even though she's angry on the outside a lot of the time," said Steph. "Doesn't hurt that she's hot as fuck, too."

"Um— what?" Max did a double-take. She wasn't sure if she'd heard that right.

"I mean, like, wow, " Steph said, leaning on the edge of the booth. "I don't know what she does to stay in shape like that, but man, girl is  _ fit. _ And the blue hair is a great look. I'd have asked her out myself, if she wasn't involved with that bombshell Rachel for so long. Next to her, I can't compare."

Max felt a strange and complex feeling in the pit of her stomach, at both the idea that Steph found Chloe attractive, and that Chloe and Rachel were rather more than friends. She'd gotten that impression based on what Chloe had said last night, but didn't know how to ask Chloe about it.

"Chloe and Rachel were... a couple?"

"Well... who knows? They sure spent a lot of time together. I can tell you they were definitely way closer than normal friends," said Steph.

"...What was Rachel like?" Max asked. Chloe wasn't there, so she might as well gather some more information while she had the chance. She was a reporter, after all.

"Hmm. Rachel was..." Steph looked pensive. "She was gorgeous, obviously, like a model or a TV star. But she was really smart, too, and also kind and empathetic. But there was something about her... like, you got the feeling she was somebody who had a lot of secrets."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, no one knows what's up with her family, for one thing. She just showed up in New Arcadia City one day, a fifteen-year-old girl travelling on her own. Dunno how she met Chloe, but the two of them shacked up together shortly after."

"She sounds... unreal," Max said.

"She always was, kinda. She had this way of putting a spell on you," Steph said. "I host game nights at my place, and Chloe and Rachel came over a few times. I don't know how she did it, but in a single session Rachel managed to usurp the king of my kingdom and became its supreme ruler. She's really good at playacting. But then she grew bored of it all."

"Where did Rachel go?" asked Max, although she kind of felt like she knew the answer.

Steph shrugged. "Well, she didn't  _ leave, _ but... I think they broke up? Like, Chloe got a lot gloomier and started coming in alone. I saw Rachel hanging with a bunch of rich kids I didn't recognize. Guess it didn't work out..."

_ Or... she began working for the Hero Association, _ Max thought to herself. She wondered if the "rich kids" that Steph had seen Rachel hanging out with were other people who worked for the Heroes. But she had no idea what Steph's attitude towards the Hero Association was, so she didn't want to challenge that by bringing up Chloe's anti-hero slant.

"Waaaait a second," Steph said, looking at Max closely. "You said you're Chloe's friend from years ago... you wouldn't happen to be Max, would you?"

"Um, yeah, that's me," Max replied, confused.

Steph's face lit up. "Oh, wow! I never thought I'd finally meet you. Chloe used to talk about you sometimes," she said. "Not so much anymore. I think she spent a long time hoping to hear from you. Where'd you move to again? Seattle?"

Max felt the sucker-punch of guilt, and it made her feel a little bit sick to her stomach. "Yeah..." she said.

"It's cool you're back in town and finally reconnecting, then," said Steph. "I think Chloe will be glad to see you again. From the way she put it, it sounded like you guys got along great when you were kids. And also..." She looked over Max. "You're pretty cute yourself, y'know. Are you sure this isn't a date?"

"Um, I don't... maybe?" Max was at a loss for words. _ Why are so many people flirting with me, _ she wondered.  _ Is that another metahuman power I don't know about? _

Steph laughed. "Juuuust teasing," she said. Then someone shouted her name from the kitchen. "Shit! I gotta go do my job. But first: what can I get you for breakfast?"

"The last good Belgian waffles I had were at this diner, seven years ago," Max told her.

"All right, Belgian waffles it is. And I'll get Chloe's usual, too." Steph made a note on her notepad. "It's been nice meeting you, Max. Enjoy your coffee, I'll be back out with your food in a few." She gave a cheerful wave and hurried back towards the kitchen.

As Steph left, Max felt like she should be writing some of this down, so she got out her journal. Journalling was a habit she'd picked up during high school that greatly helped her organize her scattered thoughts. _ I guess you could say... I'm officially a journalist now, _ Max thought to herself, then wished Chloe were there so that she could force her to listen to her pun. Chloe claimed to hate all puns, but she couldn't help but laugh whenever Max made a particularly terrible one at her.

Writing in her journal, she was able to collect her thoughts all in one place: everything that had happened; all the people she'd met and the information she'd learned about them; what she currently understood about the nature of her powers. She made a bullet-pointed list of facts she knew about the drug Vortex, which she was meant to be tracking down as part of her assignment for work. By the time she got past "Makes your eyes glow" and "gives you superpowers, maybe" she began to despair at her prowess as a journalist. _ If I don't get a lead soon, I'm done for, _ she thought to herself.

Fortunately, it was just then that her biggest lead walked in the door of the Two Whales, her bright blue hair shining in the morning sun like a beacon of light. Chloe raised up a hand in friendly greeting towards the fry cook in back, who responded with a grunted "hey." She scanned the booths and, seeing the one where Max was seated, formed a grin and sauntered over towards her. She threw her backpack underneath the table and practically jumped into the seat opposite Max, flinging her legs up on the seat cushion.

"Gooood morning, Super Max," she said with a grin.

"Hey Chloe," Max said, unable to keep the smile off her face. _ I'm sitting in the Two Whales with Chloe again... I can't believe how familiar this feels. _

"Just like old times, huh? You and me, getting breakfast at the Two Whales," Chloe said. "Only — what's this shit on the jukebox right now? Hang on a sec, Max," Chloe said, getting up from their booth. "There are some musical wrongs that need righting."

She crossed over to the retro jukebox and input her selection. After a few moments, the country song was interrupted and a  [ new song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YweT8jvGXI) began to play in the background of the crowded diner, underneath the sounds of conversation and silverware clanking on plates. Satisfied, she returned to her seat.

"That's much better," she said. "Can't fucking stand country music, it makes me wanna throw up."

"Really? We used to listen to it in the car all the time... when your, uh..." Max hesitated as she started to connect the dots in her mind, but she finished what she was saying anyway: "When your dad used to drive us both to school."

"Gee, Max, it's almost like there's a connection there," Chloe said, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

Max looked askance. Talking to Chloe felt like navigating a minefield, where every step she took risked tripping the emotional landmine that was her dead parents.

"Hey, Max. Stop freaking out a sec," Chloe said, reading Max's silence correctly. "We're not here 'cause I wanted to guilt-trip you."

"I know," said Max. "It's just... this place is filled with memories. It's hard not to think of them all the time."

Chloe shrugged. "I'm used to it," she said. "They let me milk the 'dead parents' thing for free breakfasts here for years. Kinda shitty, but hey... orphan perks?" She looked up at the portrait of Joyce that hung on the wall. "Thanks, mom."

"Thanks, Joyce," Max echoed her, and sipped at her coffee.

Chloe took a swig from her own cup, and when she set it back down, Max could see that she was smiling, looking across the table at her. "So, Max... let's talk about your superpower," she said.

Max instantly cast a furtive glance around to make sure no one was listening in. Then she nodded. "I still don't have an explanation for it... or for my hours of missing memories... but I know my time powers are for real."

"I'm still wigging out over what you just told me. Nobody's ever had a power like that before," said Chloe. "I mean... super-speed, controlling fire, reading people's minds, sure. But messing with time? Who even knew that that was possible?"

Max stared at the palm of her hand. "I know... part of me still can't believe it's true."

"Well, I trust that you aren't lying to me Max, but like I said... I'm gonna need to see some proof before I can believe you one hundred percent."

"I can prove it," Max said. A corner of her mouth curled into a smile, as she felt a swell of confidence in her chest. "I can tell you everything that's in your pockets without looking."

"Suddenly you got X-ray vision now, too?" Chloe raised an eyebrow at her.

"Sorta. I'm gonna need you to turn out your pockets for me first, though," Max told her.

"My... hey! That's cheating," she protested.

"I promise, it's not. I'll look at what's there, and then I'll rewind to before you showed me, and tell you what I saw," Max said. "It'll be like... a science experiment."

"Dammit Max, you know I can't resist a good experiment," Chloe told her. "Okay, fine, you win. Take a look," she said, and began setting the contents of her pockets down on the table in between them. Max studied the arrangement of objects laid out before her, and when she was satisfied, she held out her hand and rewound time.

"Suddenly you got X-ray vision now, too?" Chloe was saying.

"Your pockets contain a cigarette case with four cigarettes and three hand-rolled joints, and a white lighter with a butterfly on it," Max began.

Chloe dutifully took out her case and lighter. "Okay... so you knew I was a smoker, and maybe you saw my lighter last night. Kinda uncanny, but it doesn't prove much."

Max shook her head. "You also have your black graffiti pen, and your car keys, on a cute kitty cat keyring."

"Yeah, no duh," Chloe said, removing her keys and setting them on the table. "You saw these, too, when I drove you home last night. Max, I swear if you're fucking with me..."

It was time to break out the big guns. "Your wallet contains seven dollars and eighty-four cents. You have an Oregon state driver's license, as well as a fake ID that lists your name as Abigail. There's a parking ticket from last week that was issued at 11:14 AM on Sycamore street. And at the back of your wallet is a photo with you and another woman." Max paused. "Is that Rachel? She's really pretty."

"All right, hold up, hold up," Chloe said, taking out her wallet. As she checked the date and time on her parking ticket and laid out all her spare change, a look of astonishment crossed her face. "Holy shitballs, Max," she said as she took out the photo of her and the beautiful woman. "I just got chills all down my spine."

Max couldn't keep the smile off her face. "So do you believe me now?"

"I'm about eighty percent there," Chloe said. "I believe you've got some powers, but... are you sure it's not just X-ray vision, or mind reading?"

"I'm sure," said Max.

Just then, Steph appeared at their table again, bearing plates loaded up with their breakfast. Chloe looked up at her with a familiar smile and they shared a fist-bump.

"Oh, hell yes! Thanks bunches, Steph," Chloe said. "Have you met Max?"

"Yes, we had a nice chat before you arrived," Steph said. "It's amazing, she's really the same Max you used to have a—"

" _ Shhh, _ Steph, shut the fuck up," Chloe hissed between her teeth. Max looked back and forth between them in confusion as Steph laughed while Chloe looked a bit flustered.  _ Is there an inside joke I'm not getting here? _

"Okay, well, I hope you're planning to pay for your breakfast this time, 'cause there's two of you," Steph told her. "I can handle the coffee, but I'm pretty sure even you won't be able to convince my manager to get you the whole thing for freeskies."

"What, I'm outta orphan points?" Chloe protested.

"I'm treating Chloe this morning," said Max. She didn't have much money on her either but it seemed like the right thing to do.  _ Wonder if I can expense it and get work to reimburse me... _

Steph raised her eyebrows and appeared to give Chloe a look. "She's a keeper, all right," she said. "Play nice with her, okay?"

"Pssshhh. You got no idea what Max is capable of," Chloe said. Max felt a warm pride simmering inside of her at the praise. At least, it _ sounded _ like praise.

"I'll let you two cuties enjoy your breakfast, then," Steph said, topping off each of their coffees. "Just gimme a holler if you need anything, all right?" She straightened up and walked away to wait on another table.

"She's nice," Max said. "It's cool meeting your friends."

"She's meddlesome is what she is," grumbled Chloe. "But yeah, Steph is pretty chill. She hosts game nights at her place, and she's got a hard drive with pretty much every movie ever made, in HD. I can always count on her for quality nerd shit." She sipped at her coffee. "She's like, really, extremely into girls. Did she hit on you?"

"Um, yeah, a little," said Max.

Chloe stiffened. "If it makes you uncomfortable, then—"

"No, I— I didn't mind, honest," Max said. "I could tell she was only joking. Plus it's... kinda flattering," she said, blushing slightly.

Chloe relaxed, and the weird vibe that Max felt disappeared. "Good," she said. Then she looked down at her plate. "Oh man— this looks fucking amazeballs. I'm hungry like the wolf." Her silverware squeaked against the plate as she started to eat.

Max eyed her Belgian waffles, which gleamed on the plate, encrusted with powdered sugar and fresh fruit. It looked so perfect that she wanted to take a picture of it before digging in, so she took out her phone and snapped a quick photograph. Her mouth began watering as she cut off a corner and bit in. The flavor filled her with nostalgic longing and a childlike joy.

For a short while they didn't talk, only ate and drank their coffee. The sounds and subdued chaos of the crowded diner surrounded them, but they might as well have been on their own private island of calm in the middle of a stormy sea.

Finally, Chloe pushed away her plate, giving a satisfied sigh. "Man. Nothing beats the Two Whales. Best damn breakfast in all of New Arcadia."

"It's been too long," agreed Max, as she polished off the last strawberry on her plate. Her appetite seemed larger than normal for some reason.

"Okay, Max," Chloe said, leaning across the table towards her. "Like I said, I'm eighty percent there in terms of believing you have time powers. But I'm not all the way there yet. So... do something that'll make it impossible for me to doubt your awesomeness."

"All right, then... I'm going to predict the future," said Max.

"Sweet. How?"

"I'm gonna watch what happens in the diner during the next minute or so. Then I'll rewind time, and describe it to you before it happens," Max said.

"All right, Max, let's see what you're made of," Chloe said.

Max stopped talking and watched the patrons of the diner intently, taking mental notes on everything she saw. After watching for about a minute, her concentration was broken when Chloe's phone started to vibrate on the tabletop. The caller ID read, "Boss lady".

"Oh, shit," Chloe said. "Max, I'm sorry, but I gotta take this."

Max looked at the name displayed on the phone. "Is that... your boss?"

"Yeah, from the Doe and Fawn café. I shouldn't blow her off, she's probably freaking out after the monster attack. Sorry Max, but your time-travel experiment is gonna have to wait," Chloe said, and lifted her phone to her ear.

_ Actually, this is just the proof I need, _ Max thought, as she rewound time.

"...All right, Max, let's see what you're made of," Chloe was saying.

Max nodded. "This is me predicting the future," Max told her. "In about ten seconds, that guy's gonna spill his coffee all over his laptop." She pointed towards a businessman who was seated at the bar. As they watched, he knocked over the coffee cup with his elbow. The liquid seeped into the keys, sending sparks flying and causing him to swear profusely.

"Holy shit, it actually happened," gasped Chloe. "What next?"

"The TV is going to switch to a report on the monster attack from yesterday, and that kid in the booth next to ours is going to start crying."

As Max said those words, the chiron on the TV news channel switched to  **Strange Monster Attacks In Downtown New Arcadia** , and SkyCam footage of the conflict played out. From the adjacent booth, one of the small children pointed towards the footage of the grotesque deer-man and began wailing.

"Whoa, you got that one right too," Chloe said, looking back and forth between the TV and Max.

Max smiled. "Next... in about twenty seconds, you're going to get a phone call from your boss."

"How in the fuck— okay, Max, if you're right about this one, then you're one hundred percent for real," said Chloe, and the two of them stared at the phone. The song Chloe had put on in the background began to wind down, and the noises of the diner surrounded them. Chloe frowned. "Max, are you sure you—"

Suddenly Chloe's phone rang again, and her eyes grew wide. She stared at the caller ID, and then up at Max, who couldn't help but feel a little smug as she was proven correct.

After staring open-mouthed at the phone for a few seconds, Chloe said, "I'm... holy shit, Max, that was amazing, but I gotta take this. She'll be pissed if I blow her off... and this job is like, pretty much the only normal thing in my fucked-up life right now."

"Sure, go ahead," Max told her, basking a little as Chloe held the phone up to her ear to answer the call.

"Uhh, hey there boss lady," she said. "What's up?" A tinny voice on the other end of the line responded, and Chloe nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. It's messed up what happened with that freaky deer monster yesterday, right? No, no— I got out alright thanks to my friend. Sorry for not texting this morning." The voice on the other line said something, and Chloe frowned deeply. "Really? You're closing down? Well, shit..." The voice took an apologetic tone, and Chloe bit her lip and looked troubled. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry too. Thanks for everything... and uh, let me know? Okay. Bye." She tapped the screen to hang up the call, and then slumped down in her booth, groaning with her forearm covering her eyes.

"Everything okay?" Max asked her.

"Yeah, just..." Chloe brushed her hair out of her eyes. She wore a resigned expression on her face as she stared at the metal ceiling overhead. "The café's all fucked up 'cause that monster trashed it. They've gotta close the place down until she gets the money to fix it. So... that means I'm unemployed again. Hooray for me," she said in a tone devoid of any enthusiasm.

"Sorry about that..." Max said. She looked up at Chloe, who appeared crestfallen. "Did you like working there?"

Chloe shrugged. "It's okay I guess. Kinda boring, and people can be assholes before they get their coffee. But more than that... it's normal . It's probably the first normal-ass job I've ever had, since... well, since ever. I've been trying not to fuck it up. It's not easy finding work when you're a dropout and every employer in the city can see how many times you've been arrested..."

Max's eyes widened in surprise. "You've been arrested?"

"Don't look so shocked, Super Max. It's not for, like, murder or anything. Mainly getting wasted in public... vandalism, one count of breaking and entering... I had more from before but that got wiped out when I turned eighteen. But let's face it... to any normal person, I'm pretty much scum of the earth."

"Not to me," protested Max.

Chloe's expression softened at her comment, and the corner of her mouth quirked up. "...Thanks, Max. And really, I only got this gig thanks to my boss... she's pretty great. She used to work here at the Two Whales with Joyce, actually, so she knew me before everything went to shit. If it weren't for her, I probably couldn't apply for work anywhere like that."

"I kinda get how you feel. The only reason I got my job at the Times is because of my boss, too." Max traced her fingers along the case of her camera, which rested on the table beside her.

"Hey, yeah, isn't he the one who gave you that camera?"

Max nodded. "Mark Jefferson... I can't believe I actually get to work under him."

"Jefferson?" Chloe blinked. "Isn't he the guy who wrote that book...?"

"The Origin of Metahumans, yeah," said Max. "He's a genius. And he's an amazing photographer. I sent him an article I did for the school paper, on metahuman rights, and I didn't expect him to notice it, but he did. He even personally sent a letter back. Since he's the resident metahuman expert with the Times, he got them to offer me a job. And he gave me this camera after I lost my last one," she said, holding the fancy camera in her hands.

"Wow. It's like he kind of owns you," said Chloe.

Max's face colored. "Th-that's not it," she sputtered. "He may be my boss, but... Mark just says he sees a lot of potential in me, and he wants to help me achieve my dreams. He says I'm his protegé."

"Well, he's certainly right about one thing... you're something special, alright." A grin spread across Chloe's face at that. "Oh, man, it was crazy how you predicted that phone call! I guess I can't deny it anymore: you're the real deal." She gave a mock bow with both of her arms. "I pledge allegiance to the Max, and the power for which she stands."

Max blushed a bit. "I... guess it's pretty cool," she agreed.

"No, duh. Your power is seriously amazing. Just think of all the things you could get away with! You could bang anybody you wanted, no strings attached, and then— poof! Rewind it away," Chloe said.

"Chloe, you perv," Max said with a groan.

Chloe leaned forward across the table. "Maybe you made a move on me, and I wouldn't even know it..."

Max rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right, of course that's what I did," she said, smiling.

"What? All I'm saying is... if you're only thinking of using this power for like... goody-goody, heroic shit, then you're missing out, hardcore." Chloe said. "You can literally do anything and get away with it by rewinding time. If I had your power, I wouldn't need to worry about finding a real job again. I bet you could make loads of dough by like, hustling people on the street and stuff." Chloe's eyes were sparkling.

Max's smile faltered. "Chloe, this power... isn't a toy. I still don't fully understand how it works, so I need to be careful..." she began to say, before feeling a strange itchy sensation on her upper lip. A wave of dizziness and nausea passed over her and her vision fuzzed.

"Whoa, Max," said Chloe, her expression turning to one of concern, "You all right?"

She touched two fingers to her upper lip, which came away shiny and red. She grabbed a couple of napkins and used it to stem the nosebleed. It didn't hurt, but the fuzzy feeling still persisted.

"I'm," she said, and then the feeling passed and her vision cleared. "I'm okay. It doesn't hurt."

"Here I thought I was the one with the drug habit," joked Chloe. "Too much blow, or what?"

Max shook her head. "More like too much excitement," she said, wiping away the last of the blood. "I guess this is what happens when we start hanging out again, huh?"

"Now Max, I will predict the future," Chloe said. "We've got plenty more exciting adventures just ahead of us. With your power, and my genius planning... we can do anything!"

Max nodded. "I'm glad I found you, Chloe... I was starting to freak out without anyone to talk about this. But you've been really supportive so far. So, thanks."

"Are you kidding? I should be the one thanking you!" Chloe shook her head, grinning. "I'm so glad you're back. Now that we've got an idea of what you're capable of, Nathan Prescott doesn't stand a chance." She pumped her fist in the air. "We'll stick it to those assholes at the Hero Association who think they control this city. We're gonna expose them for the liars they are, and find Tempest before they do!"

Max nodded. With her newfound power, they had way more options at their disposal for uncovering the truth about the many mysteries that lay before them. "...I think you're right. Let's do this," she said.

Chloe smirked. "I kinda like this new, devil-may-care Max," she said.

"Well... you know, I've been influenced..." Max looked up at her and fluttered her eyelashes.

"Stoooop," Chloe said, as Steph approached their table again.

"You both look like you're having fun," she said. "Can I get you two lovebirds anything else?"

Max glanced at Chloe, who shook her head. "That's okay," she told Steph. "We're just about done here."

"Roger that," said Steph, and set their check on the table. Max got out her phone and used her thumbprint to pay for the omelet and waffles. As Steph collected the check and their dirty plates, she looked over at Max and winked. "Good luck, Max, it was nice to meet you," she said as she turned back towards the kitchen.

Max looked over at Chloe. "...I think your friend is trying to set us up," she said.

"Yeah, she does that," Chloe said, smiling and rolling her eyes. She dragged her backpack out from underneath the table and shrugged it onto her shoulders. "Now, c'mon, Max. We've given your powers a trial run, but the question is, are they ready for the prime time?"

"...I don't really know what you mean," Max said.

"What I mean is, let's experiment!" Chloe bounced on the tips of her toes. "I know the perfect place where we can try out the real stuff. Somewhere no one knows about other than me. Well, besides, uh..." she trailed off, but Max could guess whose name she was about to say.

"Rachel Amber?"

Chloe shrugged. "Damn. You read me like a book, Caulfield. Yeah, Rachel and I used to go there to escape from it all. Now that she's moved on up in the world, it'll just be you and me though. Guaranteed."

"...Okay," Max said, uncertain what Chloe was referring to. "What kind of place is this? Is it in New Arcadia?"

"Sorta. You'll see," Chloe pushed open the door, and together they left the nostalgic familiarity of the Two Whales behind and ventured out into the city.

Up above their heads, a surveillance drone hovered in the air, its camera eye sweeping across the street before settling on the two women. It paused in its aerial patrol track, its lens zooming in on their faces, snapping a photograph before flying away.

\---

Max followed Chloe as they walked along the busy street, past the man seated at the table in front of the Two Whales who was still handing out religious pamphlets. Max averted her eyes and hoped that he wouldn't notice her, instead staying close to Chloe's side.

"Parking's a bitch here in downtown Arcadia," Chloe explained as they strolled down the sidewalk, "So I had to leave the truck about a half mile from here, close by Blackhell. Hope you're up for a little walk."

"It's okay," Max told her. "After all that breakfast, I could use the fresh air and exercise." Though as she said it, Max had to admit that the car exhaust and sewage smells of the city were far from 'fresh'. Still, as they ducked into an alleyway and the sounds of traffic became muffled, she had to admit that the city held its own unique charm.

"Hey, Max..." Chloe said after a minute. Max turned to look at her but found that she was averting her eyes, making it difficult to read her expression. "If... you hadn't come to the Doe and Fawn yesterday..." Her voice seemed hesitant. When she turned to look at Max, Max saw a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. "Do you think we would have ever gotten back together like this?"

Max felt a lump form in her throat. In the month since she'd moved back to New Arcadia, the idea of reconnecting with Chloe hadn't been more than a spare thought. But after their meeting on the rooftop, finding Chloe like this seemed inevitable.

It was best that she be honest with Chloe, even if it meant admitting the painful truth. "I... don't know," she said truthfully. "I was getting used to my job at the Times. I barely had the mind space for anything else..."

"So, you really wouldn't have reached out, huh," Chloe said. Max studied Chloe's expression. To her surprise, the other woman didn't look upset or angry. Instead she merely looked thoughtful.

"Yeah... you're probably right. You know how bad I am at taking the initiative," Max admitted.

"Uh, yeah, I'm well aware," Chloe said sarcastically, one eyebrow raised.

Max felt her face heat up, remembering the initial couple months after their estrangement, when Chloe had sent her several text messages that she'd read and subsequently ignored. But Chloe seemed uninterested in berating her any longer for the seven years of silence, and when Max realized that, her relief overwhelmed her anxiety.

"I'm so happy we did meet, though," Max told her. "It's the best thing that's happened since I moved back."

"For reals?"

"For reals," Max said. "I didn't even realize you were still in New Arcadia after all these years. I'm glad you're here though."

Chloe shrugged at that. "For a while I thought about leaving... just ditching this place and never looking back. This shit-hole's done enough to me that it would be easy to leave it on the horizon... but..."

Max looked at her curiously. "Why did you stay, after you lost your parents?"

"At first it was Rachel," Chloe said. "She was the only worthwhile thing in this godforsaken shit-pit... we almost left this place together, at one point."

"Why didn't you?"

"Rachel and I had unfinished business here," Chloe said, looking askance. Max recognized that expression: it was the one she made when there was more to the story that she wasn't saying right away.

"What kind of business?" Max asked.

"That's— I'd rather not talk about it here," she said, looking around at the alleyway they were currently walking through. A warm breeze blew through, ruffling Max's hair and carrying with it the smell of car exhaust and pine needles. A leaky pipe dripped intermittently into a puddle on the floor, which splashed underneath Chloe's shoes as she led them through towards the light on the other end.

"Why not? Nobody's around." Curiosity burned within Max. _ Unfinished business... does that have to do with Dogcatcher? There's so much more to Chloe than I know... _

"Just... it's kind of a long story. It has to do with my dad, and Rachel's... family." Chloe's expression looked slightly pained. "I'll tell you when we get to where we're going, so—"

She was interrupted by a whistling sound. It was faint and low at first but got louder and higher-pitched the more she listened. It sounded familiar, and that sound was setting off alarm bells in her head. Where did I hear that before... she wondered. After a second it clicked: she'd heard that sound yesterday, after the monster attacked the middle of the city street. That sound signaled the arrival of...

There was the screech of sneakers and a rush of air in the alleyway. Max jerked her head to look over at the source of the noise and realized she and Chloe were no longer alone. A familiar blue-clad figure had instantly appeared in the entrance of the alley facing them. He stood straight and tall, overlooking the both of them. There could be no mistaking his streamlined suit, the windswept brown hair, nor the Hero Association logo emblazoned on his chest.

"Hey, girls," said Flashdrive. He wore an apologetic look on his youthful face, and he held his hands outwards, trying to look nonthreatening. "I'm really sorry about this, but you're gonna have to come with me."

"Um—" Max's breath caught in her throat. She wasn't expecting to be face-to-face with another Hero so soon. _ What's this about? And why do I feel so... trapped all of a sudden? _

"Like _ fuck _ we are!" Chloe shouted. The aggression in her voice startled Max. She sounded just like she had on the rooftop two days ago. "You can't make us — we're not going anywhere with you!"

"I was afraid you'd say that," said Flashdrive. He pulled at his gloves, which Max noticed had metallic studs attached to them. Sparks of electricity arced between the metal nodes. "Unfortunately, Oracle gave me an order. She was very specific about bringing both of you in... through any means necessary."

"Oracle? That bitch can go to— nggghhhk!" Chloe's insult was cut off as Flashdrive moved with superhuman speed to press the nodes of the taser glove against her arm. She let out a garbled yell as voltage coursed through her body, her spine going rigid, and then her knees gave out and she collapsed to the floor.

"Chloe!!" Max shouted, holding out her right hand to try and reverse time. But Flashdrive was far faster. Before Max could seize hold of the time stream, she felt the hot metal press up against the back of her neck. A splitting pain unlike anything she had felt before surged through her body, locking up her muscles in a full-body spasm. After a few seconds of agonizing pain, she too fell to the ground, her body completely unresponsive.

"I'm really sorry," Flashdrive repeated as he brought out a pair of handcuffs, securing them first on Chloe and then Max. "I don't like having to do this to civilians, especially not to nice girls like yourselves. But, orders are orders..."

"Ffffuck youuuhh," slurred Chloe from where she lay on the floor.

Max felt herself being lifted up off the ground. Her vision swam before her eyes as she tried to steady herself, to fight back, to rewind time — anything. Try as she might, she could not will her body into motion; it was as though every bit of energy inside her had been suddenly sapped away.

Flashdrive was saying something, but Max couldn't make out what it was. Her consciousness slipped away until only blackness remained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:  
> Billy Currington - People are Crazy  
> Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts
> 
> Just a heads up, updates may slow down a bit from here on out. I try to keep a buffer of at least 1 chapter written past what gets published to give me time to edit and proofread everything and work on future chapters. I will do my best to still have 1 chapter out per week though.
> 
> Thanks so much for your kudos and comments! You all are amazing as always <3


	7. Day Two - Daytime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and Chloe get taken before the Hero Association, and Max learns an unexpected truth.

_ "In theory, the Hero Association works in tandem with local law enforcement for the purposes of information gathering, conflict resolution and apprehending of criminals. However in reality, more and more of this process has become the domain of the Heroes, with the police acting as an auxiliary force. Although it is without a doubt more effective, there is some question as to the legality of this practice..." _

\- Mark Jefferson, "The Origin of Metahumans" 

\---

Awareness returned to Max slowly, like waking from a dream. She remembered a beautiful, blue-haired girl... and a Hero, also in blue... and time itself, flowing around her like water, responding to her touch and moving backwards and forwards at her command. As she surfaced into consciousness, her recent memories started to return to her. She recalled Chloe, and her newfound powers, and...

She felt a bump from the ground underneath, and snapped to alertness in an instant. The sensation of motion and the vibrations under her feet informed her that she was in a vehicle of some kind. She blinked her eyes to try and make anything out, only to realize that her vision was blocked. Someone had tied a blindfold over her eyes. As she tried to lift her hands, cold metal jangled against her wrists: they'd cuffed her hands in front of her, too. She tried to keep a lid on the panic that was rising inside her and threatening to overwhelm her. She felt the warm solid presence of another person on her right.

Taking an educated guess, she said out loud, "Chloe? Is that you?"

She felt someone else's knee nudge her own. "Holy shit, Max, I'm so glad you're okay," came Chloe's voice by her side, all in a rush.

"Where are we?"

"Hell if I know. I can't see shit," Chloe said. "You must've passed out for a bit there. We're being abducted by the Heroes. They're taking us to the HQ now, most likely..."

"The... Heroes? What do they want with us?" Max asked, confused.

"Dunno," said Chloe. "But if I know Oracle, it can't be good."

"Oracle, huh..." Max recalled the proud and severe woman with the power to make anyone do whatever she told them. She remembered their last interaction and shivered. She'd barely gotten out of that with her memories intact... she didn't want to know what would happen the next time.

"Listen, Max. Whatever happens... I don't want you taking the blame for any of it," Chloe told her. "If they wanna charge us with something, then... it should be me."

"But... you're innocent, Chloe," Max said.

Chloe was silent for a few moments. Then she said, "I don't think any of that matters to them."

"What do you mean?" Max asked, but was interrupted by the squeal of brakes. The vehicle had arrived at its destination.

Max heard a car door open and felt a rush of air to her left.

"Oh! Looks like you're both awake now," said Flashdrive's voice. "Again, I'm really sorry about all this. I told her, we didn't need to go all out, but..."

"Shut the fuck up, Flashdork," Chloe spat. "You hit us with tasers, handcuffed and abducted us! So excuse me if I'm not buying your crap apology."

"I mean... I guess you have every right to be mad, in that case," said Flashdrive. Max felt his hand on her elbow. "Come on, this way."

Max allowed herself to be led out of the truck. The air felt cooler than usual, and the sounds of the city were muffled, replaced by indistinct murmurs and the sound of water dripping in the distance. Were they somewhere underground? Based on the echoes of their footsteps, it sounded like a large space, like a parking garage. Flashdrive led them along for about a minute before stopping and standing in one place. A soft chime echoed, as though from an elevator, and then they were led a few steps further and Max heard the sliding doors close behind them.

Soft, generic music played as the elevator floor vibrated underneath them. Max was almost glad that she couldn't see anything, because the awkward atmosphere in the room was nearly palpable.

After a minute, Chloe said, "Bet you secretly love this, huh."

_ "Chloe!" _ Max hissed. The last thing she wanted to do was to taunt the metahuman with super speed and a stun glove, who could instantly react before she had a chance to rewind. Unfortunately, Chloe had other ideas.

"I mean, why wouldn't you? You're a Hero. You can do pretty much whatever you like, with zero consequences," Chloe said. "People worship the ground you walk on anyway. So, who gives a shit about how you treat a couple of normies like us?"

Flashdrive gave a sigh. "Oracle said you'd be difficult," he muttered under his breath.

"Not everyone thinks you're the shit, you know," she said. Inside her head, Max fervently wished her to quiet, but nothing could silence her when Chloe needed to be heard. "There's lots of people who're sick and tired of all your do-gooder type garbage. We all know you aren't as good as you pretend to be."

"I totally get why you're upset," he said. "I would be too, in your situation... so like I said, I'm really sorry... but I promise, no harm will come to you here."

"Harm? This is already harmful, you asshole," Chloe said. "You electrocuted us! That really fucking hurt!"

"Yeah, I shocked myself a bunch of times building these gloves." said Flashdrive. "It's not a great feeling, I know... but it shouldn't cause any lasting damage."

"You built those gloves yourself?" Max asked, curious despite herself.

"Like I give a crap that this kid's good at arts and crafts," Chloe seethed. "You'll regret this. Max here's a reporter for the Times. Soon as she gets out, she's gonna tell the whole world about this... how you treated us like we're nothing and tossed us away when you're done. Then everyone will see."

"Chloe..." Max's voice caught in her throat. "Are you sure we shouldn't just... find out what they want first...?"

"Probably just some bullshit," Chloe said in contempt.

Inside her mind, Max's thoughts swirled in confusion. Why were they being brought before the Heroes? Did it have to do with her investigation of Vortex? Had she somehow been discovered as a metahuman? Or was it something that Chloe had done?

The elevator chimed, and Max heard the doors slide open again. "This way, ladies," said Flashdrive, guiding Max and Chloe out the elevator. They walked for a minute down some type of hallway, her shoes producing echoes on the smooth marble floor. There was the sound of a door opening and they turned and were led into another room. Max could hear voices which fell silent as they entered. There was the sound of a chair scraping against the floor.

"Have a seat," Flashdrive said. The chair touched the backs of her knees and she sat down. "I'm going to remove your blindfolds now."

As soon as he said it, the cloth covering Max's eyes was taken away. She blinked, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light, and finally saw her surroundings. She and Chloe were seated next to one another at an enormous wooden table, which stretched the entire length of the room. The center of the table bore the logo of the Association, etched in darker colored wood. The room had a high, vaulted ceiling, and its walls were entirely covered in Smartglass. On the other side of the table were six chairs, five of them occupied by people whose faces Max was already familiar with, having seen them every day in the news and on TV.

The five people seated opposite Max and Chloe were like a who's who of the Hero Association. Front and center was Oracle, the Association's current leader, clad in her pure-white fitted suit with black trim and a sleek white mask and gloves. She was seated back tall against her high-backed chair, fingers steepled, watching the two of them intently. To her left sat Flashdrive, who was pulling at his shock gloves and looking somewhat nervous. On the far left sat Angel, the Hero whose face was on the religious flyer which still remained in Max's pocket. A delicate feathered mask obscured much of her face, and her eyes were downcast, making it difficult for Max to read her expression. There was an empty chair to Oracle's immediate right, and then seated to the far right was none other than Nathan Prescott, who had his feet up on the table and wore a bored expression on his unmasked face.

Oracle stood up from the table. She walked along its length, high heels clicking on the marble floor. Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for her to speak. Fear gripped Max as she recalled Oracle's power to compel someone to do anything she liked; that ability was terrifying, even in the hands of a Hero.

At length, Oracle spoke. "I'm sure you are wondering," she said, "why I've gathered you all here."

"Oh, cut the crap," snapped Chloe. "You kidnapped us!"

"...She's kinda got a point, Vic— uh, Oracle," said Flashdrive. "I took them in, like you said, but... they don't seem like Villains. As far as I can tell, they're civilians."

"Quiet, you," Oracle said, flipping a hand at him dismissively. She turned to face Chloe, and pointed an elegant, white-gloved finger in her direction. "Chloe Price. Still as difficult as ever, I see. I guess some people really don't ever change."

"Fuck you," spat Chloe.

Max glanced between the two of them. "Chloe..." she said under her breath. "Why does it sound like Oracle knows you?"

Oracle raised her eyebrow. "I suppose you didn't tell your little friend, then? About your history with the Hero Association. Chloe... or should I say,  _ Crow. _ "

Chloe glared down at the table, saying nothing. Max looked rapidly between her and Oracle. "Uh, Chloe? I don't understand..."

"Your girlfriend's an anti-Hero. A vigilante," came a bored drawl from the other end of the table. Nathan Prescott swung his legs down from the table and leaned forward, resting his chin on his fist. "She's been a real pain in the ass for us, here at the Association. See, when civilians like her start getting big, dumb ideas, it's always on us to clean up their messes."

"More like _ I _ was the one cleaning up after _ you _ failed to do your jobs," muttered Chloe.

"Hmph," Oracle made an indignant noise. "I seem to remember things differently, particularly the last time you tried to pick a fight with a Villain... the damage you caused nearly exceeded our monthly budget." She placed a hand across her forehead and shook her head. "I swear, if it wasn't for Tempest taking your side, I'd have had you thrown in prison with the rest of the riffraff."

"Prison? You aren't the police!" Chloe shot back. "We were just doing what you all are too chickenshit to do for the good of this city!"

"C'mon, just 'cause you've got dead parents doesn't mean you gotta play some kinda Hero," drawled Nathan Prescott.

"Nathan..." said Oracle, a warning tone in her voice.

"Anyway, I stopped doing it, all right? I haven't done that kinda thing for at least a year," said Chloe. "If that's why I'm here, then you won't get shit from me."

"If only it were that simple," Oracle said. She looked between Max and Chloe. "No, this has nothing to do with your foolish past as a wanna-be Hero. This is about..." she reached into her pocket and pulled out a sheaf of small slips of paper, which she spread across the table. "Remember this?"

Max's eyes widened. The papers were print-outs of the photographs she'd taken at the scene of the crime where the deer-man attacked. This close to the action, she could see how the camera captured the glowing eyes and the sweat glistening off the monster's purplish skin. Fear rose up inside her as she recalled where she'd been during that day: taking pictures, fending off the monster, and rewinding time in order to save Chloe's life...

"Isn't it interesting?" Oracle asked as she laid the photographs out on the table. "Two days after Tempest disappears, a monster attacks in the heart of New Arcadia. And right as it does, the two of you just happened to be there."

"...It really was just a coincidence," Max said, her voice shaky but determined. "Chloe works at the cafe on that street. And I was getting a coffee. We were just as confused and scared as everybody else."

"Hmph. A likely story," Oracle said, disbelief in her tone. "Tell me, then..." she slid a photograph across the table towards Max. It was the picture of the beautiful woman with the feather earring reclining against a chair. "How do you know Rachel Amber?"

"Rachel—" Max's eyes widened as she looked at the photo that had been on her SD card. That girl was Rachel Amber?

"Max, what is this?" Chloe looked between her and the photograph, shock and confusion across her face. "How did you get this?"

"I — I didn't," Max replied, flustered. "I've never met Rachel. That photo was on the camera roll when I got it..."

"Bullshit," said Nathan. "Look at her. She's obviously lying."

Oracle gave them both a stern look. "The day after Tempest vanishes... and suddenly Rachel Amber's ex partner starts hanging out with a Times reporter, showing up at crime scenes before they happen. It's more than a little suspicious."

"Tempest? I... I don't understand," Max looked between Chloe and Oracle and back again. "Chloe, what does Tempest have to do with all this?"

For once, Chloe didn't have anything to say right away. She covered her mouth with one hand and looked troubled.

"...Chloe?"

Oracle flipped her hair and gave an indignant huff. "Quit playing dumb, Crow," she said. "Tell your little friend the truth."

Chloe sighed. "Max, Rachel...  _ is _ Tempest. Before she joined the Hero Association, we used to... do our own Hero work on the side. We were a team."

From the end of the table, Nathan scoffed. "Now you're just a sidekick without a Hero," he taunted. "Bet you thought it'd be a good idea to kidnap Tempest, then, huh? Bring back the ol' glory days?"

Max blinked. "Rachel is  _ Tempest _ ?" Chloe's best friend and old flame was the city's number-one Hero? And Chloe used to do unlicensed hero work on the side with her? She felt dizzy at the revelation.

Chloe pounded her manacled hands on the table. "How does any of this matter? She's missing is what she is!"

"The reason I brought you here today," said Oracle, "Is because you two are persons of interest in the Tempest case. Whatever you know... or if you're conspiring to hide her... we will find that out here."

"We don't know shit, okay? We're trying to find her too!" insisted Chloe.

"That remains to be seen," said Oracle. She leveled her piercing stare straight at Chloe, and Max thought she saw her eyes flash white for a second. "When did you last see her?  _ Tell me, _ Crow."

Chloe's body went rigid, her eyes glazing over. Max looked at Oracle and realized that she must be using her powers to compel Chloe to talk. A cold fear shot up her spine. If she was using her powers to force the truth out of Chloe, then Max would likely be next.

"...I saw Rachel three weeks ago, at the Two Whales diner," Chloe said, her voice deadpan and her eyes staring straight ahead. "She looked right through me. It was like I didn't exist to her at all."

"Hmm..." Oracle frowned. It seemed like that wasn't the answer she wanted to hear.

"...I think she's innocent, Victoria," came the soft, high-pitched voice of Angel from the end of the table. Oracle — Victoria — glared at her, and she hung her head, a sheepish expression on her face.

"Or she's figured some way around your power," drawled Nathan. "Try the wimpy-looking one next."

Victoria blinked, and Chloe slumped down in her seat as the compulsion was lifted. She looked over at Max, a panicked look in her eye. "Max, you have to—"

"Maxine Caulfield," interrupted Victoria. Max trembled underneath her gaze, afraid of what would happen next. "Where did you last see Tempest? Tell us now. "

Immediately a fog clouded over Max's thoughts, just as it had done during Oracle's interrogation the day before. It felt as though her consciousness was plunged into a deep pool of water. As she struggled to resurface, she heard her own voice say the words: "Two days ago."

Each of the Heroes seated at the table opposite them reacted to that. Angel looked up, shocked; Flashdrive's mouth hung open. Oracle leaned back, a satisfied smirk on her face. Nathan looked troubled.

" _ Interesting _ ," said Oracle. "How curious, that you saw her on the day of her disappearance. Care to tell us more, Maxine? I'm sure you know by now that lying is pointless, so, out with it."

Max's consciousness returned to her body as Oracle's compulsion faded. She glanced over at Chloe, who was looking at her, worry evident on her face. How could she possibly explain to the Heroes what she saw without revealing her time powers?

She remembered her last exchange with Oracle.  _ She's giving me a chance to talk without compelling me first, _ Max thought.  _ She's testing me, to see how I respond. I may as well tell them the truth... even if none of them believe me. _

"I saw Tempest battling another metahuman. A Villain," Max said, "He was throwing bolts of lightning at her, and his head was covered in purple flames. I was there, taking pictures with my camera," she said. Then she got an idea.  _ If this goes badly, I can always rewind,  _ she thought. She took a deep breath. "Why don't you ask Nathan what happened next? He was there, too."

Nathan blinked at her in confusion. _ Yes, _ she thought.  _ Let's see how he reacts to this... _

"This chick's delusional," Nathan said. "I wasn't called out at all that day."

"Really? Because I saw you shoot Tempest," Max challenged. "You were taking orders from that Villain. I saw you point that gun at her and pull the trigger."

The heroes around the room gasped. Nathan stood up from the table.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" He pointed towards her. "Do you hear what she's saying? She's a fucking lunatic! She's the one that did it, and now she's making up some kinda bullshit to blame it on me!"

Chloe, too, looked at Max in confusion. "Max... what are you doing?"

"...Just trust me," she said under her breath.

"Nathan," said Victoria, "Calm down. Nobody's blaming you." She stood up and levelled a glare at Max. "Who do you think you are, Maxine Caulfield? Accusing a Hero of betraying one of our own. You've got zero proof," she said. "Where are those photographs you said you took?"

"After the fight, I lost consciousness," said Max, "and when I woke up, it was the next morning. I'm missing half a day of memories, and someone stole my camera during that time. So I haven't got those photos anymore."

Several of the Heroes murmured and shifted. Angel's eyes seemed to widen in surprise. Nathan, however, grew angrier than ever.

"See? She's got no evidence— nothing! This is a whole buncha made-up bullcrap," said Nathan.

"...I'm not expecting you to believe me," Max said. "But I'm telling the honest truth about what I saw. Compel me again if you like, my answer won't change." She glanced over at Nathan. "...Or you could compel _ him  _ and find out if he knows anything about that Villain."

"Victoria, c'mon," Nathan said, putting his hands up. "You promised you'd never use your powers on me. This crazy bitch is clearly lying. I have... I've got an airtight alibi, all right? I was at the HQ all day getting fitted for new gear. You can check my timestamps if you want. This is fucking bogus."

"Betcha did it 'cuz you were jealous," said Chloe. "Even with all your daddy's money and your fancy toys, without powers you'll never be half the Hero that she is." She glared at each of the Heroes in turn, until she was staring directly at Victoria. "None of you will ever be."

" _ Silence, _ " commanded Victoria, and Chloe's mouth snapped shut with the click of teeth. She then rounded on Max. "You..." she seethed. "Your lies aren't going to protect you. You've just confessed to seeing Rachel Amber on the day she disappeared. Right now, you're looking guilty as hell."

"I'm innocent," Max insisted.

"Then why did you have a picture of Rachel Amber on your camera? Why were you at the crime scene yesterday? What do you know, Maxine?"

Max's heart pounded in her chest. There was a part of her that wanted to wither up and disappear under the Hero's overwhelming intensity. But a deeper part of her — burning hot, fluttering like a butterfly's wing, the bright and unquenchable thing that she recognized as her power, rose up from within.  _ We have more power than they know,  _ she told herself.

Max stared right back at Victoria without blinking. "...I know about Vortex," she said. "That's what I was looking for at the crime scene yesterday, and the day before, when I saw Tempest."

"Vortex?" Victoria blinked, taken aback. She was wearing the same stunned, wary expression she had the last time Max had brought it up during their interrogation yesterday. Her eyes wide, she looked at Max "You... how can you possibly know about that..."

"I'm right, aren't I? There's a drug that can give anybody superpowers, and it's spreading across New Arcadia. I saw a man turn from a human into... that," Max said, pointing at the photograph of the deer-man. "That's not natural, even for a metahuman. But if it was... triggered somehow, like with a drug, then it could explain what happened."

The Heroes murmured among themselves. Max watched Nathan's face closely and watched his scowl deepen at the suggestion.

"That's why Nathan shot the monster dead, isn't it? Why you were making the witnesses forget what they'd seen. All this looks like a cover-up, to me." She looked down at the handcuffs that were on her wrists. "If word got out that there was a drug that gives anyone superpowers, then... that would be really bad for the Association, wouldn't it?"

"Maxine..." warned Victoria. "Who do you think you are? Some kind of Hero?"

"My name's Max — never Maxine," she said. That flickering bright courage continued to burn inside her chest, emboldening her to speak her mind. "And I'm not like you. I'm not a Hero — I'm a journalist. All I'm doing is trying to bring truth to light. So if there's something like that out there, and you're intentionally keeping the public in the dark, then that's endangering the people of this city. So right now, you all are looking way more guilty than Chloe and me."

Silence fell across the room. Chloe looked over at Max, her eyes shining in awe. Max felt a mix of power and terror. _ I actually did it. I stood up to the Hero Association, _ she thought.  _ My career might be over now, though... _

"Enough," said Victoria suddenly, banging her fists on the table. "I'm sick of your disrespect. We will resume this interrogation later. Angel!" she snapped, and the young woman seated towards the end of the table stood at attention. "Escort these two to the detention center."

Angel nodded and approached Max and Chloe. Without saying a word, she held out her hand, and a glowing golden halo of pure energy appeared around Chloe's chest, constricting her arms to her body.  The silencing that Oracle had done to her broke, and she shouted her objection: "You can't do this to us! Max is right — you're just doing this to cover your own asses!"

"I wouldn't expect a couple of wannabe anti-Heroes like you to understand," Victoria said, "but we at the Hero Association have a procedure that we follow. Right now, you two are getting in our way. So be a good girl, now, and let the pros handle this."

"Yeah, right! Your procedure sucks ass," protested Chloe as the halo constricted more tightly around her body. "You already know I'm innocent! Get this thing off me!" Despite her struggles, there was nothing she could do to resist.

Max allowed Angel to place a halo of light around her, and stood up. She somewhat expected this to happen. Trying anything now, in front of all the heroes, would just land them in greater trouble. She needed to think, and to wait for the right opportunity...

"This way, please," came Angel's gentle, soft voice. Max and Chloe followed her outside the room, Chloe shouting insults over her shoulder as they left the Heroes behind.

\---

For the second time that day, Max found herself being escorted down a wide, empty hallway by one of the Association's top Heroes. Up close, Angel seemed about Max and Chloe's age. Her Hero suit resembled a priest's robe, with an ornamental golden halo atop her dirty blonde hair, which was tied up in a bun. One of her hands clutched at the lanyard around her neck, on which hung a small silver key. Her other hand she held out to her side, and with the twitching of her fingers was manipulating the halos of glowing yellow light which bound Max and Chloe.

Max wondered how come Oracle — or Victoria, as Max supposed was her real name — hadn't sent Flashdrive to escort them instead. Angel was a non-combative Hero. Maybe this power she had was better-suited to preventing them from escaping?

_ Or maybe, _ Max thought,  _ Oracle just wanted to punish her for taking Chloe's side back there. _

She wished she could talk to Chloe, one-on-one, but with Angel there, the risk would be too great.

"Why are you listening to her?" Chloe said to Angel. "You know I'm innocent, and so is Max. Don't you feel like this is kinda against your morals?"

Angel stiffened at that, and Max felt the halo of light tighten around her. She felt an unpleasant electric buzz on her skin where the light construct made contact. After a momentary hesitation, she kept walking, pulling the two of them along with her. She said nothing, but behind her feathery mask, Max noticed her hazel eyes looked troubled.

"Hey, Angel," Max said, taking a different approach. "I'm sorry about this. I'm actually a big fan. Out of all the Heroes in the Association, I've always admired you the most."

"Huh, Max, I didn't take you for a religious nutjob," joked Chloe.

Max shook her head. "It's not like that. And I don't think Angel asked for people to worship her like that. I just think she's a good person, who uses her powers to do good things in the world." She looked over at Angel. "...That's why she's my favorite."

Angel remained silent. If Max's words had gotten through to her at all, it didn't show on her facial expression.

"...Is she a mute?" Chloe asked after a minute. "I don't think she's listening."

Angel sighed at that. "I can hear you," she said.

"Hark! The Angel speaks!" said Chloe.

"...You can call me Kate," said Angel — Kate — in her quiet voice. "And, thank you for the kind words... Max."

"Uh, no problem, Kate," Max said, wondering at the sudden shift in her attitude. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but you seem upset. Is there something going on...?"

Kate looked over to one side. "I don't think I should tell you... Oracle says I shouldn't talk to you at all."

"Come on, Kate," said Chloe. "We're not bad guys. Really! We wanna find Rachel... uhh, Tempest, as much as you guys do." She rattled the handcuffs on her wrists. "Just, y'know, it's really difficult when you try to lock us up, just 'cause we know too much or whatever."

"I don't know if I can trust you," she said. "Those things you said in there... about Nathan... there's no way that can be true. Nathan can be... difficult, sometimes, but he wouldn't do that to another Hero..."

"He sure didn't hesitate to pull the trigger on that monster yesterday," pointed out Chloe. "That guy was technically a metahuman too, ya know? I mean, he was going berserk in the middle of the street and threatening civilians and all that, but if I was suddenly mutating into a freak like that, I'd probably go ballistic, too."

Kate sighed. "...It is sad, what happened to that poor man. I would have liked to try to heal him, if I'd been there." She held out one of her hands and a golden shining light appeared in it.

_ That's right, _ Max recalled.  _ She has a healing touch that can speed up recovery from any injury. _ Angel had made her debut as a Hero shortly after the fire that swept the city five years ago. Then just a young teenager, her healing touch had brought hundreds back from the brink of death and saved still countless more from living their life in horrible disfigurement. Her arrival appeared to some to be divine providence. Since she came from a religious background, she quickly became the figurehead for a new faith based around metahumans as proof of God's existence. But Kate herself seemed more down-to-earth, less divine and more like an ordinary young woman than the horde of worshippers would suggest.

"You're a good person, Kate," Max said.

"Thanks. But..." she looked aside. "I still have to take you to the detention center. It's... for the greater good."

"Yeah? And what defines this so-called greater good?" Chloe challenged. "Is it whatever Oracle says? In my language, that's not 'greater good'. That's what's called a 'dictatorship'. Emphasis on the  _ dick. _ "

Kate's expression looked strained, her mouth in a thin flat line. "Oracle may have the power to compel, but that's not why we follow her. We listen to what she says because she is a good leader. She is... brave, and strong, even if you might not believe that."

"Yeah, I find it hard to believe anyone would follow Queen Bitch willingly. I mean, didn't she make you do this to us 'cuz she wanted to punish you for speaking your mind?"

Kate didn't respond to that, although a slight crease appeared on her forehead. She continued to lead them down the hallway, their footsteps echoing across linoleum. They arrived at a corner, which bent 90 degrees and then continued, seeming to stretch on and on. Max figured they must be in the Hero Association HQ somewhere, but there were no windows on the walls, and the artificial fluorescent lighting gave no clues as to whether they were located above ground or below.

_ We have to get out of here,  _ she thought. I have a deadline to meet, and we need to look for clues on Tempest and Vortex. We can't let them keep us here forever. She cast a glance over at Chloe, who met her gaze and held it for a few seconds. A bright determination burned within her eyes.  _ She wants to escape just as badly as I do,  _ Max thought.  _ With my powers, it should be possible... although Kate is going to pose a problem.  _ She felt the unpleasant electric tingle of the halo of light that was binding her arms to her body, and the handcuffs rattled around her wrists.

_ I gotta distract her,  _ Max thought.  _ If I can break her concentration, we should be able to get out of these halo things. _

"Hey, um, Angel — Kate," Max said, hesitation in her voice. "Sorry, but... is there a bathroom in this place? I kinda, um, really need to use it right now..." That much wasn't a lie. Max blamed all the coffee she'd had at the Two Whales.

Kate stopped walking and turned to look at the both of them. Immediately, Chloe nodded in assent as well.

"Yeah, you guys kidnapped us right after we ate a big breakfast," Chloe said. "I didn't want to talk about it in front of a nice girl like you, but... well, I'm on my period, and—"

"I get it," said Kate, looking a little queasy. "I'll take you to the bathroom, but... I'll be there the whole time, so don't try anything, okay?"

"Of course," said Max, as Kate guided them down a side hallway. She pushed open a door and led them inside a bathroom. To Max's surprise, it looked like a school's bathroom; clearly not every part of the Hero HQ was as impressive and opulent as the entrance hall or the meeting room they had just been in. If this building even was the Hero HQ...

The lighting in the bathroom was somewhat dim, and the sound of water dripping echoed throughout the room. A row of several bathroom stalls sat opposite a mirror. Max caught a glimpse of herself in its reflection. She looked... fine, given the circumstances, although her hair was messed up, and she couldn't raise her arms to fix it. The golden halo of light around her body was casting bright reflections on the tiles in the wall and the floor.

Reflected in one of the mirrors, Max spotted something interesting: on the wall in the far corner of the bathroom, there was a red button in a glass case that read IN CASE OF FIRE. If she needed a distraction, then that might not be such a bad idea.

"I'll let you go one at a time," Kate said. "Max, why don't you go first."

"Thanks," Max said, and stepped inside the stall. As soon as she got there, she sat and began to plot her escape. _ I'll need a distraction. I bet I can trigger that alarm and distract Kate enough to interrupt her binding on Chloe. But I can't move as long as she's got it on me. _ She stretched out her right hand as much as she could with the halo binding and the manacles. _ Wonder if this stuff will go back in time if I do, _ she thought, and rewound time several seconds.

The halo dissipated from around her arms the second she exited the time stream. She breathed a sigh of relief and rolled her shoulders to get the kinks out.  _ I guess my Rewind can disrupt the effects of other metahumans' powers,  _ she thought, recalling how she'd used it to evade Oracle's commands the other day. She looked down at the handcuffs which still bound her wrists.  _ Looks like I'm still stuck with these... for now _ .

She technically had all the time in the world, sitting alone in the bathroom stall, so she decided to do a little experimentation. Rewinding a few seconds, the handcuffs remained on her wrists.  _ It's like my clothes and my camera... any non-living object that's on my body goes back in time with me.  _ But what if she wasn't touching it? Out of curiosity, she tried resting her wrists on the metal box on the side of the bathroom stall. By positioning her hands just right, she could hold the handcuffs so that no part of them was in contact with her skin. She stretched out her right hand and concentrated on rewinding time as slowly as possible. Time froze, and the handcuffs effectively froze with it. As time ticked backwards millisecond by millisecond, she swiftly pulled her wrists towards her. But the moment her skin touched the metal rings of the handcuffs, they became pulled into the rewind with her.

_ Crap, _ she thought.  _ Guess I can't time travel my way outta this. _ She needed to get those cuffs off her wrist, somehow. She remembered the tiny key that dangled from the lanyard around Kate's neck. That's gotta be it, Max thought. All she needed to do was to nick it from her, somehow. _ Easier said than done, especially with these on, _ she thought, looking at her handcuffs.  _ But I haven't got any other choice. _

She heard a knock on the stall door. "Max? Are you about done?" came Kate's voice.

"Yeah... just a sec," she said. She had to move quickly, although with her powers she could re-try if she messed up. She took a deep breath and stood up. She counted down in her head: three... two... one, and then pushed open the door.

As soon as Kate laid eyes on her, her eyes widened as she saw that the halo of light was no longer holding Max. "How did you —"

Before Kate had a time to throw another binding on Max, she dove to one side, towards the hidden corner of the bathroom near the fire alarm. Then she rewound time about ten seconds, and Kate returned to her position, unaware of Max's escape.

"Max? Are you about done?" Kate asked again, knocking on the door of the now-empty stall. The silver key dangled from a lanyard around her neck. For Max to steal it, she would need to distract Kate.

Crouched in the corner of the room, Max looked around for something she could use to break the glass on the fire alarm case. Also in the corner with her was a steel bucket and a janitor's cart; underneath the cart, she spied something brightly-colored. She wheeled the cart out of the way and seized the heavy plastic hammer in one hand.

_ Here goes, _ she thought, and brought the hammer down on the glass case of the alarm. It shattered with a satisfying SMASH!! and the alarm began to blare throughout the floor. Max dropped the hammer as Kate spun around. In her confusion, the halo of light she was projecting around Chloe flickered and disappeared.

While she was distracted, Max approached her. As Kate began to turn in her direction, she quickly rewound time so that she was now standing directly behind her.

"Sorry about this," Max said as she grabbed ahold of the lanyard with the key and lifted it off Kate's neck.

"What's going on—" Kate started to say, before Max rewound time again, to just seconds after she'd smashed the alarm. Kate, her back turned towards Max, went to investigate the noise in the corner of the bathroom, while Max quickly used the small key to undo the lock on the cuffs that were binding her hands together. With a satisfying click, the handcuffs came unlatched and clattered to the floor.

She then approached Chloe, who was staring at her, wide-eyed. Max supposed that from Chloe's perspective, she had apparently teleported across the room, tripped the alarm, and then teleported to her side. Kate was still distracted, so Max pressed a finger to her lips and quickly and quietly unlatched Chloe's handcuffs as well. They fell to the floor, and Max wasted no time in grabbing her wrist and pulling her along behind her towards the door.

As the bathroom door swung shut behind them, they found themselves in the hallway once more, with the piercing screech of the fire alarm echoing across the floor. Max picked a direction at random and, holding Chloe's wrist, sprinted with her down the hallway. She didn't know how long it would be until the Heroes caught up to them.

"Holy shit, Max," Chloe said as they sprinted down the hallway. "That was awesome! You were like a freaking time ninja!"

"Don't thank me yet," said Max. "We still have to get out of here."

They came up on another bend in the hallway, and as she did Max spotted an escape route: A glowing orange EXIT sign which hung above the entrance to a stairwell.

She shoved the stairwell door open and pulled Chloe after her. They found themselves on a landing in front of stairs which went both upwards and downwards.

"Which way should we go?" Chloe asked. Max blinked. She had assumed that they were in the Hero HQ, but she had no idea whether they were above ground or below. Based on the elevator ride they'd taken, she supposed they were upstairs, so...

"Down!" Max said, and at her direction, Chloe leapt down the stairs, taking them two at a time and vaulting over the divider. Max chased after her. As she did, she heard the echoes of other voices coming up the stairs.

"—Unspeakably rude, but we can bury her career. No one will give a shit about poor little Maxine when we're ready to release her," came Oracle's voice, and Max stopped dead in her tracks as she laid eyes on Oracle and Nathan Prescott coming up the stairs several flights down. Hearing the commotion, Oracle looked upwards. She made eye contact with Max and held it for a few long, confused seconds.

"What the..." she said. "You!"

"Oh, shit," said Max, as she rewound time. The Heroes moved back down the stairs, and several flights down she saw Chloe running backwards. As Chloe passed her, she released the rewind and grabbed onto her hoodie sleeve.

"Whoa!" Chloe gave a start. "You scared me there, Max. What's up?"

"We can't go downstairs," Max warned her. "Oracle and Nathan are down there."

"So... up, then?" Chloe asked. Max nodded. "Up it is. Let's go, Super Max!"

Hand in hand, the pair ran up the staircase. Max's legs burned and her lungs ached as she scaled the stairs. The wail of the fire alarm echoed throughout the concrete stairway. Down below, they heard voices shouting up the stairwell; fortunately, the sound of the siren and the pounding of their footsteps drowned out any command word that Oracle might otherwise try to yell in order to freeze them in their tracks.

Several flights up above, the stairwell dead-ended in a door marked by a glowing EXIT sign. Chloe, several paces before Max, charged into it and shoved it open. It swung outward, slamming the exterior wall with a loud crash, and the two women stepped out into the light.

Max blinked as she gathered her bearings. _ How high up are we...  _ she wondered. Her eyes adjusted to the daylight. They had emerged onto a flat roof, and no sooner did they than Chloe slammed the door shut behind them, latched it shut and dragged a breezeblock in front of it to jam it closed.

As she looked around them, Max realized her surroundings were not what she expected. Rather than the towering high-rises that surrounded the Hero HQ, the buildings around them were shorter, three or four stories tall at most. The building they were on was not much larger. A grassy quad and a small wooded area were visible in the surroundings of the building.

This was not the Hero HQ. With a start, she realized that she recognized the place they had ended up.

"Holy shit," said Chloe. "The Heroes have a secret base underneath  _ Blackwell Academy? _ "

"Sure looks that way," Max said as she turned in a circle. The building they were standing on top of was some type of dorm. Similar-looking buildings were dotted around the quad. Off in the distance, Max spied the main school building. If I'd stayed in New Arcadia, I would've gone here for high school, she reflected.

Chloe chuckled. "Good ol' BlackHell," she said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Figures they're on the bankroll of the Heroes, too. Not surprising, given how money-hungry they always are." She scanned the roof around them. "C'mon, Max, we gotta get a move on!"

"Right..." Max agreed, but then a wave of vertigo passed over her. "...How do we get down?"

"Follow me. I got this," said Chloe, who took off across the roof. Max followed behind her as she vaulted over an array of solar panels that were providing power to the dorm building. She led Max to the edge of the roof, where a gutter pipe snaked down the side of the building. Chloe indicated this with a flourish.

"Behold, Maximus," she said, pointing. "Our ticket out of this mess."

"Chloe... that doesn't look safe," Max said.

"...It probably isn't," she admitted. "But I do crazy stunts like this all the time. It hasn't gotten me killed yet!"

Behind them, loud footsteps sounded from the stairwell. Max jumped. "Shit!"

"Yeah, no time to waste, let's go!" Chloe said, and grabbed ahold of the gutter pipe, swinging her body over the edge of the roof. "It's not too difficult Max. Just hang on and let gravity handle the rest! I'll see you down belooooooow!" she called as she slid down the side of the building. Max watched, eyes wide, as Chloe descended four stories rapidly and landed safely at the base of the building.

Just then, there was a loud banging from the other side of the door. It rattled against its latch and the blockade Chloe had placed down. Before Max's eyes, the metal on the door began to glow bright hot white, as the laser from Nathan Prescott's rifle started to cut a hole through it.  _ Holy shit, these guys are serious! _ Max thought.

It was do or die. She rewound about twenty seconds to buy herself some extra time. Then she placed both hands firmly around the gutter pipe and swung herself over the edge of the building. _ Don't look down, don't look down...  _ she repeated in her mind as she squeezed the pipe between her knees _. Just let gravity do its thing, _ she thought, recalling Chloe's words. She loosened her grip and felt her body start to slide down the building.  _ Oh god, oh god, don't fall, don't— _

Max felt warm hands grab her under-arms, slowing her descent as her feet touched solid ground. She opened her eyes to see Chloe, her arms wrapped around Max's back.

"That was seriously amazing, Super Max," she said, her eyes shining with pride.

"Thanks," Max said, feeling a strange flutter inside her chest. "We gotta go, though. They're cutting through the metal door with lasers."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Those guys are so extra," she said. "C'mon, Max. I know a place where they'll never think to look for us, 'cause no one knows where it is except me. We can plot our next move from there."

"...Where is it?"

"I'm gonna take you to my hideout. Our very own little Fortress of Solitude," she said. "C'mon, let's get outta here. Follow me!"

Her hand gripped Max's and the two of them ran off into the woods, leaving Blackwell Academy and the Heroes' secret underground hideout behind.

\---

With a final, earsplitting screech, the bright beam of light from Nathan's laser rifle sliced through the steel door. He stepped over the rapidly cooling shards of metal and out onto the roof of the dorm. The inactive jet boosters in his boots crunched on broken glass as he scanned for the two women.

"Son of a bitch!" he shouted upon seeing that the roof was empty. He threw his rifle to the ground in rage. "Who let them get away?!"

Victoria stepped out from the door behind him, delicately picking her way through the rubble. She approached Nathan's side. After doing her own survey of the empty roof, her eyes flashed in anger. She pressed a finger onto the Hero Association pin on her lapel. A small light flickered on at its center.

_ "Angel," _ Victoria said into the pin. Ire and venom dripped off her every word. "The captives are loose. Explain yourself. "

"I... um..." Kate's voice came, tremulous and panicked from the other side. "I don't... I don't know what happened. The, um, the reporter, Max, she was... there, and then, she was across the room with the key to her handcuffs... I..." Kate's voice trailed off.

"So what you're saying is, you failed in the very simple task I set out for you," Victoria said with disdain. "I hope you know there will be consequences for your sheer incompetence."

"It's not... that..." Kate stuttered. "There's no way she should've escaped my binding. I think... Max may have powers."

"Powers ? You're saying she's a metahuman?" Victoria scoffed. "Don't mess around, Angel. Isn't that one of your ten commandments? Thou shalt not lie? So, don't. You're a dreadful liar, and it's not cute."

"I'm serious, Oracle," pleaded Kate. "I can't find any other explanation... it's like one minute she was in the bathroom stall, then she somehow escaped my binding, set off the fire alarm, stole my keys, unlocked herself and Chloe, and got away. I didn't even see her reopen the door." She took a shuddering breath, and for a moment there was only static on the radio channel. Finally, she said, "...You don't believe me, do you."

"I believe that you let our captives free," Victoria told her. "Did little Crow's backtalk mess with your head? She must've tricked you with her sob story of dead parents and living in the gutter. You always have been the bleeding-heart type."

"I— I didn't let them go, I swear! The only thing I did was bring them to the bathroom... but I kept my Virtuous Binding on them the entire time."

"Mmm-hmm. A likely story. Here's a tip, Angel: some souls just aren't worth saving. You know what Crow's done, don't you?"

"I know... but I told you, that's not what happened," said Kate. "Max Caulfield... she's special. I don't care if you think I'm lying. I know what I saw."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't make such ridiculous excuses, then," Victoria said, contempt in her voice. "You're getting harder and harder to take seriously, you know. First this nonsense about missing memories, and now you're making up rogue metahumans to excuse your incompetence."

"You're not going to listen," Kate said, sounding morose. "I should have known you wouldn't, after last time..."

"Don't be so melodramatic. We'll just recapture them," said Oracle. "Only this time, your help won't be needed. Stay on standby until you are called. Over and out." She hit the button on her pin and disconnected them.

"You should've let me handle them," said Nathan. He picked his rifle up from where it had been thrown and hoisted it on his shoulder, brandishing it as if to fire and peering into the sight. "Those crazy bitches need someone to remind them why we're the Heroes and they're not."

Victoria rested a white gloved hand on the barrel of the rifle, pushing it downwards. "Easy there," she told him. "We don't want another PR disaster on our hands... and shooting a civilian would definitely count. Besides, you're not off the hook..."

"Are you serious?!" Nathan shrieked, his voice becoming shrill. "You'd seriously believe that fuckin' paparazzi over me? I got jack shit to do with Tempest disappearing — C'mon, Vic, you know that!"

"Whoa, Nate, take a chill pill," Victoria said. "I'm not talking about that. Of course she was lying." She sniffed. "I'm talking about you slaughtering that meta-monster in broad daylight yesterday, without even trying to subdue it first. You've been a bit too trigger-happy, lately. It's a bad look for the Association."

"I had to," protested Nathan. "There was no stopping it otherwise."

"Really? Because Flashdrive said he had the area cleared when you arrived."

"Warren's full of shit. You know he likes to talk himself up, especially in front of a crowd. I'm the only Hero who gets any actual work done around here..."

Victoria sighed. "It's your word against his. I don't have time to deal with this right now — I've got a fugitive and a snitch to deal with, first, before they send the public into a panic and turn the whole city against us."

"How the fuck did she find out about Vortex, anyway? I thought you said you had that under control," said Nathan.

"I did have it under control... until  _ someone _ or  _ something  _ let it slip to the press. If we don't nip this in the bud, the media is going to start figuring it out, and we can't allow that. If our sponsors find out..."

"My father..." Nathan's eyes flashed. "We can't let this spread any further. Prescott Industries needs this kept under wraps, or they'll throttle our funding."

"I  _ know. _ That's why I'm on it." She pressed the button on her lapel again. This time, the light blinked blue. "Brooke, come in. I need all eyes in the city scanning for Chloe Price and Maxine Caulfield. They are fugitives who have knowledge about Tempest."

"Uh, yeah, about that, boss..." came Brooke's voice from the other side. "You might have to put that on hold for a bit. My drones are picking up some activity near the Prescott convention center. Looks like we may have another Villain situation. Hang on, I'm patching the video feed through to you now."

The pin on her lapel flickered its light, projecting a holoscreen in front of them. It showed footage from one of Brooke's aerial drones, which had its camera trained on the side of the building. A large, humanoid shape was clinging to the side of the building, steadily making its way up the outer face. As the drone's camera zoomed in closer on the figure, it looked less and less human, with dark, shaggy fur sprouting from its arms and legs.

"Looks like another one of those meta-monsters," Brooke observed.

"Of all the goddamn..." Victoria grit her teeth. "All right, I'm sending out our strike team to neutralize the threat." She turned to Nathan. "Normally, Tempest would be our go-to, but since she's obviously not available, you are going to deal with this. But make it clean — and take it alive this time, if you can."

"I don't work miracles, Vic," Nathan said. He slung his rifle over his shoulder, clicking it into place on his armored exo-suit. "If you want it dealt with, you're gonna have to let me do things my way."

Victoria let out a frustrated groan. "You're on thin fucking ice, Nathan. Don't give our PR team more trouble than you already have."

"I'm gonna do my damn job," Nathan said. The jet pack on his back fired up. "You can thank me later."

A miniature explosion echoed across the Blackwell campus as Nathan rocketed up into the sky, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake. Victoria waved it out of her face and glared after his rapidly disappearing silhouette in the sky. Then she turned her attention to the video feed on her holoscreen again.

Tempest was missing, which meant that it was now her responsibility to ensure the safety of New Arcadia and its citizens. And as for Chloe Price and Maxine Caulfield — they may have gotten away this time, but the Association would find and recapture them.

They couldn't evade her forever. They were just ordinary humans, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, we're back!  
> Apologies for the extended wait between chapters. I took a break from weekly updates to focus on really refining the plot. This fic is... big. I estimate this is around the 1/3rd point, but it might end up being even longer than that. Oops?
> 
> Thanks as always for your lovely comments and feedback. I'm having tons of fun writing this, and knowing that you all are enjoying it is really inspiring!
> 
> P.S. Who's excited for Farewell? I know I am! :D


	8. Day Two - Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After escaping the Heroes, Chloe leads Max to her hideout and shines a light on her shadowy past.

_ "Because awakening to superpowers will often reshape one's entire life, there is a tendency for new metahumans to keep their powers a secret. Some are known to wait months, if not years, before going public. In fact, of the almost ten thousand recorded metahumans in history, there are perhaps another five thousand or more who simply have not been discovered yet." _

\- Mark Jefferson, "The Origin of Metahumans" 

\---

Chloe's hulking truck tore around a bend in the road, its G-forces pressing Max into the back of her seat as she clung to the interior of the door and held on for dear life.

She cast a glance behind her. No vehicles appeared to be following them, but that wasn't a clear sign they had made it to safety just yet. With Heroes like Flashdrive who could move at superhuman speeds, and a city-wide drone surveillance network, there was no knowing for certain that they had escaped. Max hoped that where they were headed truly was out of their reach, like Chloe promised.

They had left the gridded streets of downtown New Arcadia and were now on a winding road that led into the mountains to the north of the city. The urban sprawl took on a decidedly derelict quality. Max spotted shuttered old gas stations by the side of the road, seedy motels, and houses with roofs that sagged and siding that was falling apart. The further one drifted from the center of town — and thus the influence of land developers like the Prescotts — the more run-down it appeared. There was even still some wreckage from the Cataclysm that destroyed the old Arcadia Bay fifty years ago, left untouched by the cleanup efforts and gone to rot.

Max looked over at Chloe, who appeared focused on the road ahead with a single-minded determination. She swung the wheel around to the other side, and the truck veered onto an side street, its wheels skittering over the bumpy gravel.

"Where are we going?" asked Max, her voice jittery as they passed over the uneven road.

"Somewhere they can't follow us," Chloe told her. "A blind spot in their radar." As the truck rolled down the street, the area around them became more densely forested, surrounded by pine trees. "They're always watching the city with camera drones. But their range doesn't go this far — it's like a dead zone out here."

"How did you find this place?" Max wanted to know.

"Rachel and I used to..." Chloe's gaze flickered to Max before returning to the road. "...I'll explain when we get there."

Max frowned. "By Rachel, you mean Tempest, right?"

"Like I said, Max," Chloe said, a note of impatience in her tone, "I promise I'll tell you everything, just... trust me for a minute, and let me focus on getting us there, first."

Max took a deep breath in through her nose. "...Okay," she said. The events of the last couple of hours proved that there was far more to Chloe's history than she'd initially revealed to Max. But Chloe was her only ally, and the one person who knew Max's secret. She couldn't afford not to trust her. Even when it seemed like she'd been hiding the truth from Max about her past with the Hero Association...

The neighborhood became increasingly sparse the further down the road they went, as they passed trailer parks, old industrial fill-lots, and acre after acre of towering pine trees. Finally, Chloe took the truck down another side road, past a NO TRESPASSING sign which had been graffitied with the black silhouette of a crow. The road appeared to dead-end at a rotting wooden fence. Chloe slammed on the brakes, killed the sputtering engine and stepped out of the car.

Max opened her door and followed her outside, her knees shaky as a baby deer's after that pulse-pounding car ride, and looked around her. The place where they had arrived was a junkyard. Max's eyes widened, taking in the stacks upon stacks of rusted-out old cars, ancient PVC pipes, teetering piles of discarded furniture, endless rubble and refuse. Across the junkyard, she spied a row of abandoned train tracks for the freighter that used to run just outside the city.

It was a chaotic, rusty mess. Max felt like she was at risk of getting tetanus just by looking at it. Yet somehow, through the dappled light of the tall pines surrounding them, the old scrap yard gave a peaceful aura. She breathed in; other than the scent of gasoline and exhaust from Chloe's truck, she smelled pine needles and heard the sounds of wing flaps and crows cawing through the trees.

_ I bet I could take some pretty neat pictures here, _ she thought.

Chloe came from around the side of the car and joined Max at her side. "Welcome to my kingdom," she said, sounding just as proud of this abandoned scrap heap as she was of her decrepit car. "American Rust: the place that time forgot."

"Seems fitting," Max said as she looked all around her. She followed Chloe through the gate, along a crude footpath that wound through the stacks of abandoned garbage.

"This is where I was gonna take you anyway, before all that crazy shit went down with the Heroes," Chloe said. "C'mon, I'll show you around."

Adrift in the ocean of discarded refuse was the rusted-out hull of a motorboat, faded blue paint peeling from its exterior. Chloe approached this, and with her combat boots she kicked over a wooden pallet so that it leaned against the side of the boat. Clambering up the wood slats, she boosted herself up the edge and extended a hand towards Max.

"Come on up," she said. "I got you."

Max reached up and took her outstretched hand. With Chloe's assistance, she climbed up the side and reached the deck of the boat.

On top of the deck, there were several upturned crates and plastic chairs.  From the elevation where Max stood, she had a panoramic view of the scrap yard. Framed by tall pine trees, she could see dozens of wrecked cars, old discarded appliances, forgotten and broken toys and even an entire abandoned school bus. The light seemed perfect, and although it wasn't related to her work assignment, she couldn't help but raise her camera to her eye and take some photos of the scenery.

As she snapped a picture of the rusted-out school bus, she became aware of Chloe watching her. She turned to look back at her, and their eyes met. Despite the hectic escape they had just made from the Heroes, Chloe appeared relaxed among all the trashed cars and forgotten objects of yesteryear. She sat down in one of the chairs on the deck and kicked her feet up on the edge of a boat. Max pulled up a crate and sat down as well.

Chloe proceeded to go through the now familiar motions of pulling out a hand-rolled cigarette and lighter. The smell of weed and tobacco filled the air as she exhaled smoke, the tendrils trailing upwards towards the forest canopy. Their eyes met, and Max saw that the other woman was smiling.

"Holy shit," Chloe said simply. "That was intense."

"No kidding," Max said.  _ Chloe's enjoying this,  _ she thought.  _ Somehow, I'm not surprised. _

Chloe took another puff of smoke. "Didn't think the Heroes were _ that _ desperate. Oracle's gotta be really pissed off, now. Especially since we gave them the slip."

"Hope they don't find us out here," Max said, still a bit shaken from their escape.

"Nah. Zero chance of that. I've been hiding out here for years, and they haven't found this place yet."

Max looked around them at the heaps of abandoned cars and forgotten detritus. This place had a story, for sure — it seemed like it held a personal sentiment for Chloe.

She smiled, and her eyes met Max's. "Oh yeah, Max, you were fucking incredible back there, by the way."

Max felt a blush rise in her cheeks. "Um, thank you..."

"I'm serious! And I don't just mean how you time-jumped all over the freakin' place to distract Angel and get us free. Although that was awesome," Chloe said. "It was so cool how you stuck it to Oracle! Calling her out on her cover-up bullshit. Oh man, the look on her face!"

"...Really? I was terrified..."

"You didn't look scared! You were so brave and awesome. Way cooler than any of those losers. And _ they _ call themselves Heroes!" Chloe leaned in. "Hey, so when Oracle was interrogating you, did you use your Rewind powers at all?"

Max shook her head. "No... I didn't want to risk getting found out. If I rewound... I dunno, maybe they have like, power sensors or something."

"Really? So all that was OG Max? Holy hell, now you're even  _ more _ badass."

"Thanks," Max said, blushing a little at the praise.

"You're definitely right about that cover-up, too," said Chloe. "They got hella shit to hide."

Max nodded. "As soon as I mentioned Vortex..." She recalled Oracle's expression, how her eyes had widened in shock behind her mask. "Oracle knew what I was talking about. It looked like they all did."

"Yeah, I think that's about as good a confession of guilt as we're gonna get, for now," Chloe said.

"We're gonna need some real, undeniable proof before we can go public with it," Max agreed.

"I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when we show them that ," she said. "After how they treated us... it'll feel like sweet, sweet justice."

They shared a moment of silence, Chloe smoking her cigarette, the distant sounds of crows cawing in the trees the only noise in the deserted junk yard. After all the pulse-pounding craziness that just happened, Max appreciated having a spare moment to decompress. But she also had so many more questions, questions which only Chloe could answer.

"Chloe..." she began again, and saw Chloe flinch at the sound of her name, as though she could tell from the tone of Max's voice what she was about to ask. "Why didn't you tell me Rachel was Tempest?

Chloe averted her eyes from Max, looking away and down. After a pause, she said, "...I was going to. Eventually."

"Why not sooner? After everything I told you... about my powers, and when I saw Tempest on that rooftop two days ago... I don't get it." she stared at the rotting floor of the boat. "...Chloe, don't you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you, Max. It's just... complicated. Hella complicated."

"Sounds like it," Max said.

Chloe nodded and sighed, exhaling smoke. She paused for a moment, as though collecting her thoughts. Then, she said, "Do you know why Heroes wear masks?"

Max gave her a confused look. She didn't know how that was connected to Chloe's past, but it sounded like she was going somewhere with this, so she was willing to hear her out.

"It's to keep their identity a secret, right?” Max supposed. “So that fans and villains can't track them down?"

"That's part of it," Chloe said, "but there's more to it than that."

"Does this have to do with what Oracle said in the interrogation room? She called you an Anti-Hero."

Chloe nodded. "The mask... it's not just for the fans. It's for the Heroes, too. It lets you separate that part of yourself from the rest. When you put on the mask, you feel... powerful, like there's this whole other person living under your skin, who only comes out when your real face is hidden away."

"You're speaking from experience," Max said. It wasn't a question.

"Yeah. I am." Chloe flicked the ash from her cigarette. "That person Oracle was referring to back in that interrogation room... she's me, but also, she isn’t. Not anymore."

"So you  _ were _ a vigilante..."

Chloe nodded. She had a pained look in her eye. "I wanted to leave that mask behind for good, Max, I really did. Thought I could just lock it up and leave. Figures it would find some way to come back and haunt me.”

Max thought back to the first time she’d seen Chloe. She had been dressed in all-black, with a hoodie and a bird skull bandana. “Is that why Oracle called you ‘Crow’? She said you used to be... involved with Tempest. Uh, Rachel.”

"Me and Rachel..." Chloe hesitated, then continued, "Oracle's telling the truth. Before Rachel joined the Hero Association... before she became Tempest, she and I were a team. I was Crow, and she was Raven."

"A team?" Max looked at her with interest. "Like... a Hero and sidekick?"

"Hey! I am  _ not _ a sidekick," protested Chloe. "No matter what Nathan Pres-cock says. We were both equals. She might've had powers, but I was the man on the inside. We were two halves of a hole."

Max raised an eyebrow at her at that, as if to say, _ really? _ And Chloe groaned in response.

"I know, I know! It's true though," she protested. "Back then... we weren't trying to be Heroes. Not really. But there was some nasty shit going down in New Arcadia, and the Heroes weren't doing anything... we were the only ones who cared enough to actually do something about it."

Max blinked. This was an entirely new dimension to Chloe, one that was completely different from the friend she thought she knew. "Who... or what was it that you were fighting?"

"That's... a long-ass story," Chloe said. "It had to do with my dad's killer... and Rachel's mom." She looked aside and caught Max's gaze, then frowned. "I know what you're thinking, Max. Rachel left. She left me and she joined the Hero Association. Guess I wasn't very important to her after all, huh?"

"I didn't mean..." Max began, but she knew it was a lie before she even finished saying it. By Chloe's own admission, Rachel did leave her. The relationship Chloe was describing sounded like a whole other dimension, which Max felt like she hadn't even scratched the surface.

"It wasn't always like... how it is now, between us. Me and Rachel. We used to be really close..." Chloe chucked her cigarette butt off the side of the boat. She gestured towards Max. "...I guess I should probably start from the beginning."

"That would help, I think."

"All right, c'mon, Max." She stood up and dusted herself off. "I'll give you the grand tour of Chloe Price's Shitty Life."

Max stood up as well, her eyes on Chloe as the blue haired woman grabbed a plank which was lying on the deck of the boat. Picking it up, she leveraged it until it was horizontal, creating a bridge from the boat to the hood of a car in one of the junk heaps down below. She placed a foot on top of the plank, testing its strength, then hopped on, arms outstretched for balance. The board shuddered as she crossed, and the metal hood of the car dented underneath her weight as she leapt from its hood onto the ground.

Max followed behind her down the plank, allowing gravity to carry her down, just like she had escaped from the roof of the Blackwell dorm earlier. She felt a wave of relief once her feet landed safely on solid ground again.

Chloe beckoned Max follow her, past the stacks of garbage and over towards a wrecked corpse of a car. Its entire driver's side was dented inwards in the rusted-over aftermath of a gruesome collision. Huge gouges like claw marks created punctures in the hood and body of the vehicle.

With a jolt, Max recognized the car: it was the same sedan that William Price had used to drive Max and Chloe to school every morning.

"Like everything shitty in my life, it all started the day Dad died." Her tone was disaffected and monotonous, but Max could hear the hurt underneath her words. "You should remember. You were there," she said, not looking at Max.

Max did remember. That final carefree day, she was at Chloe's house, playing with model Heroes and taking photos using William's old polaroid camera. Then William left to pick up Joyce from work at the diner. When it started to grow dark and neither of Chloe's parents had returned, they turned on the news.

The headline was immediate:  **Disastrous Villain Attack at New Arcadia Overpass** . In what appeared to be a terror attack or some type of hostage situation gone wrong, the fifteen-foot-tall villain had smashed out the supports of the bridge and gone berserk on the vehicles in the street, tearing cars to pieces and crushing the occupants inside.  By the time the Heroes arrived and got the situation under control, the toll was staggering: twenty-nine dead and sixty-eight injured, and no sign of the villain that had caused it all.

Max remembered hoping beyond hope that it wasn't the reason William was late. But when another half-hour passed and Joyce finally showed up at the home, her face gone gray and tears streaking her cheeks, there could be no denying it. Max's parents showed up to take her home soon afterwards.

The next and final time Max saw Chloe after that was at William's funeral. Dressed all in black, Max couldn't think of a word to say to the teary-eyed, broken girl who had been so full of joy and light just a few days prior. During the ceremony, Chloe looked up at her from across William's casket. Seeing the hurt and suffering in her friend's eyes felt like a lance through Max's own heart.

...And then her parents moved them away, away to Seattle, away from all the pain and the chaos and the only true friend Max had ever known.

Max snapped back to the reality of the present as Chloe strode past the broken-down car and maneuvered them deeper into the junkyard. She contemplated the significance of that car having ended up in this place; it seemed as though all the tattered ends of Chloe's life had drifted together and gathered here, in this forgotten rusted pile in the woods.

"They never caught the villain who killed him, you know," Chloe said as they walked. "He was a metahuman who went by the name Demonhead. Nasty motherfucker. Bright red skin, bigass horns and tattoos all over... shoulda been easy to find a guy like that, right? But after six months of searching, the Hero Association comes up empty handed. They said the guy gave them the slip." She spat on the dust and kicked it with her shoe. "You know how fucking hard it is, knowing that not only did your dad die for no reason, but that the sonuvabitch that did it is still out there somewhere?!"

"I... can't imagine," said Max. "I can tell you're still mad at them."

"You got that damn right. I'm pissed as hell," said Chloe. "Joyce was pretty fuckin' upset, too. Once the Heroes gave up, she turned to the Arcadia P.D. for help finding him. That's how she met...  _ David, _ " Chloe said, growling out his name in clear resentment.

Max remembered the conversation they'd had last night. "Your stepdad?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Step-douche is more like it," she said. "He met Mom—Joyce while he was working on Dad's case. She said he made her feel... normal again. Almost happy." Chloe looked aside, a grimace on her face. "Too bad he was an absolute asshole in every other way. She was clearly rebounding, but I guess I had my own shitty ways of dealing with losing Dad, so..."

"...What did you do?"

"I got expelled," she said. "Blackwell decided it had enough of my shit. First I lost my scholarship, then they caught me cutting class a few too many times. Soon as those greedy bastards realized they couldn't squeeze any more money outta Joyce, they jumped on the first excuse to throw me out the front door."

"That... sucks," Max said.

"Yeah. And then to make matters worse... as soon as they kick me out, I mean like  _ immediately _ after, David announces he's moving in with us. Said I lack discipline or whatever. Fuck. Fucking. That," she said, and kicked at an aluminum can, which went tumbling end over end until it landed with a loud clang amidst a pile of garbage. "Asshole thought he could replace my Dad."

Max's memories of William had nearly faded with age. But she remembered him as a warm bright presence, his gentle and reassuring voice and the way he always knew exactly how to provoke a laugh in Chloe. "William was special," she said.

Chloe nodded, lost in thought. "Everything happened so quickly after that. David got promoted to police chief, and then he and Mom got engaged. My house didn't feel like home anymore. I couldn't stand to be under the same roof as that limp-dicked family ruiner. So... I ran."

"Where did you go?" Max asked, feeling like she already knew the answer.

Chloe gestured all around them. "I was so mad, I didn't even care where I was going, as long as it was away from that asshole. So I ran to the outskirts of town, and walked from there. Eventually I came across these tracks," she said.

They had arrived at the overgrown train tracks in back of the junkyard. Chloe stepped up on the rusting metal rail, placing one foot in front of the other with her arms outstretched for balance. Max hopped up on the rail opposite her, and for a moment they walked in tandem, not speaking.

Max held her arms out for balance too, their hands just inches apart. Part of her wanted to intertwine her fingers with Chloe's, but she held back at the last second. Chloe was in the midst of a painful memory, one which Max didn't know how to comfort her because she didn't know where it was going. They were in unknown waters, here.

"...Eventually, I arrived here at American Rust," Chloe said after a moment, hopping off the rail. "I don't know what it was about this place, but... it made me feel at home again." She led Max back into the junkyard, along a space that was cleared to create a footpath through the piles of scrap. "I started coming here when I needed some time to myself. But pretty soon... it became my only home at all."

Max looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"It happened a couple weeks after I discovered this place. Step-douche got all drill sergeant on my ass, and Joyce took his side, so I cussed them both out and ran away here again. Took out my anger by smashing some old-ass broken shit until I started to feel a little better." She pulled at a handle that was sticking out of one of the piles, and removed a wooden baseball bat, which she gave a few experimental swings before tossing it back on top of the pile.

"That night, I came back to the city. I wanted to... I don't know. To make things right with Joyce, I guess. But... when I got back..."

Chloe fell silent. Max noticed that their walk had brought them to the foot of a pile of charred wood and a scorched mattress and bed frame.

Max put two and two together, and gasped when she realized. "That was the night of the fire, wasn't it?"

Chloe nodded. She seemed to take a moment to compose herself, but when she spoke her voice was hoarse and cracking. "Ash and dust was falling from the sky before I arrived. By the time I got there, the whole city block was on fire. I wanted to run straight in... I don't even think I planned on coming back out." She knelt to pick up a piece of charcoal, turning it between her fingers.

"Oh, Chloe... that's terrible," Max said. She was at a loss for words.

"Before I could, though," she said, "before I did something terminally stupid. I saw her, walking out from within the flames. Rachel Amber," she said, the name sounding reverent on her lips.

"...Oh," said Max. She'd been wondering when Rachel was going to come into the story.

"That was the night that we met," said Chloe. "I don't know what it was... fate, or pure dumb luck, or what, but Rachel was there. She was saving people from the depths of the fire, before any of the Heroes even showed up. She... saved me, too."

Chloe moved on from the charred remains of the bed frame to continue their meandering path through the junkyard, and Max recalled what she'd heard about Rachel.

"At the Two Whales, Steph and I talked about Rachel," Max admitted. "She told me that Rachel just showed up on her own in New Arcadia one day, no parents or anything."

Chloe gave a small smile at that. "Doing your own digging, huh Max?" She shrugged. "She's sorta right. But that wasn't the full story. The only ones who knew the real situation were Rachel and me."

"So... what happened then?"

"After the fire... the Hero Association got involved," Chloe said. "They took me into custody, kinda like what they did with you yesterday," she said, glancing over at Max. "They acted all apologetic and shit, but I could tell they really just thought of me as a problem they wanted to disappear. I mean, I'm an orphan 'cuz of the fire they failed to stop. That's some bad fucking PR right there."

Max nodded, recalling how Oracle was brainwashing victims of the monster attack yesterday. "Seems like they do that a lot... I guess they don't want the public to think they can't keep the city safe."

"Yeah. They wanted to sweep it all under the rug, pave over their mistakes and hand the neighborhood over to the Prescotts so they could develop it into high-rises. And 'cause David was technically my closest relative, and the Chief of Police, he became my legal guardian. They made me live with him."

"I'm guessing that didn't work out," Max supposed.

"Damn right it didn't," Chloe said. "I'd rather get tazed every day for the rest of my life than be forced to live with that asshole. But fortunately, I had Rachel. She came to see me after the Heroes let me go. She asked me to run away with her, so... I did."

Chloe beckoned Max to follow her again. She walked forward quickly and with purpose, and Max hurried to keep up with her lanky strides. Chloe was leading her towards a boxy structure in the far corner of the junkyard, next to the disused train tracks.

It looked like a partially-constructed modular home, one of thousands that had been brought into the Arcadia Bay area in the 20's to accommodate the population boom after the city became known as the metahuman capital of the USA. Max could see the opening where a window and a door would be, and a sheet of corrugated metal took the place of a roof. A single, dust-covered solar panel sat on top of the metal roof.

There was a ragged curtain draped across the doorway. Chloe pushed this aside with one arm, holding it open for Max to enter.

"Welcome, Max," she said with a dramatic flourish, "to my home away from hell."

Max ducked underneath the curtain and stepped inside the shack. It was dusty, causing her to sneeze. As she blinked and adjusted to the dim light, she took in her surroundings. What looked like a totally disheveled, trashy shack from the outside was... only mostly disheveled on the inside. It looked as though it had at one point been quite homely but fell into disrepair over time. A threadbare carpet sat rumpled on the dirt floor, which Chloe kicked at with one foot to smooth it out. Used furniture lined the walls, from a stained old couch to a sagging mattress and box spring to an antique dresser that was missing a drawer.

Old tapestries hung over the cinderblock walls, including a pirate flag that reminded her of when she and Chloe were kids. Every inch of the walls that wasn't covered in posters or tapestries was decorated with graffiti, symbols and handwriting that she easily recognized as Chloe's. The wall opposite the entrance bore that symbol that she'd seen so many times, of a black silhouette of a crow. Underneath it were the words:

**Chloe was here** **  
** **Rachel was here.**

While Max stood and took everything in, Chloe crossed to the other side of the room and flipped a switch. A quiet electronic hum came from the solar panel outside, and a string of fairy lights flickered to life around the room, adding light in addition to the afternoon sunlight that filtered through the old curtain draped across the open window.

After turning on the lights, Chloe sat down on the mattress with a sigh and the creak of rusted springs. She looked around them and wrinkled her nose at some of the trash that had collected in the corners. "Ugh. Been almost year since I was here. I know it looks like a complete shithole right now, but believe it or not this used to be a halfway decent place to live."

Max blinked at her. "You lived here?"

Chloe nodded. "Yep. For almost three years. Rachel and I needed somewhere off the grid, but still close to New Arcadia... and this place was just right."

She reached over to a stack of old magazines and books and placed them on the floor, revealing a vinyl record player underneath. "Huh. Wonder if this still works," she said. She then dug out a square, flat object, blowing the dust off to reveal a record sleeve. She pulled the disc out and set it on the turntable, placing the needle down on the record, and after a few seconds of crackling white noise the punk  [ song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvC5AboxKIc) began to play. As the sound filled the small room, a grin formed on Chloe's face.

"Okay. So," Chloe said, meeting Max's eyes at last. "Time to tell you the whole truth. I'm gonna explain how Rachel and I became vigilantes. You ready, Max?"

Max nodded vigorously. Chloe took a deep breath. And she began telling her story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short update this time; This chapter originally was gonna include Chloe & Rachel's full backstory, but it got long... I mean like REALLY long, so it's split up into 2 chapters now. But it'll be worth it! I swear! And it'll be ready sooner than a month from now. Probably.
> 
> Also, true story, I wrote much of this chapter while staying in an actual junk yard, and that song was given to me by the actual punk girl who lived in said junk yard, so it's extra-authentic.
> 
> Thanks as always for reading!


	9. Before the Tempest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe recalls the years she and Rachel spent on their own and the origins of her alter ego.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obligatory flashback chapter! Contains spoilers for _Life is Strange: Before the Storm._  
>  Also, mind the tags, this chapter gets pretty graphic.

_ "The greatest strength of the Hero Association is also viewed by some as its biggest weakness: the commitment to selfless public service and non-violence. Every Hero swears an oath to use their powers only for the protection of others and the betterment of society, never for personal reasons. This runs in direct conflict with Villains, who are metahumans that use their powers for selfish or violent purposes. Of course, the line between Hero and Villian is not always as clear as the media would like to portray..." _

\- Mark Jefferson, The Origin of Metahumans

\---

Four Years Ago.

\---

The shack in the junkyard wasn't a house by any normal definition of the word. It had no windows or floor, no furniture besides a few broken-down milk crates, and no electricity or running water. But it was more than its dilapidated shell suggested. Despite everything, it was a home for the two girls that lived there.

A loud crash and a chorus of swears echoed across the junkyard, as a teenage Chloe Price attempted to manhandle a stained mattress through the narrow concrete door of the shack. She managed to get it halfway through before she stumbled, overbalancing and dropping it with a thud and rattle of springs.

"God fucking damn it... Rachel! Are you gonna help me with this or what?"

Rachel was sitting inside, sipping on a straw from a plastic coffee cup filled with water. "I don't know," she said, a slight smile on her lips. "Looks like you've got everything sorted to me."

"Ha ha. Very funny," grumbled Chloe. "I guess I'll keep this bed all to myself, then. You can keep sleeping on the pile of dirty hobo clothes."

Rachel set down her coffee cup and stood up, stretching like a cat. "When you put it that way... I guess I do need my beauty rest, after all," she said, and picked up the other end of the mattress. Working together, the two girls carried it into the corner of the room. Chloe kicked aside some soiled rags that had gathered in the corner, and together they tossed it down onto the hard packed dirt floor. It landed with a thud, and the dust it kicked up caused Chloe to sneeze. When she looked up, she saw that Rachel was offering her the coffee cup.

"Thanks," Chloe said, accepting it and taking a drink. The two of them sat down on the mattress with a sigh of rusty springs. Chloe laid back, letting the tension out of her shoulders as she stared up at the holes in the metal roof overhead.

It was a hot, dry day in August, just a few weeks after the fire. Part of her still felt like this was some type of twisted nightmare-dream. The grief from losing Joyce burned inside her, clawing desperately within her ribcage and filling her spare moments with feelings of despair and powerlessness. Running away with Rachel felt like the last way to take back control of her life, which had fallen to pieces around her. Giving up a roof, clean sheets and running water felt like a necessary sacrifice in exchange for that control.

She glanced up out of the corner of her eye to the strange girl sitting next to her, beautiful even under the layers of dirt and dust that clung to her skin since they'd begun living their vagrant lifestyle. There was so little that Chloe understood about her. She knew that Rachel had saved her life in the fire. That Rachel was a runaway, just like her. That Rachel was kind and Rachel was gentle and Rachel was beautiful. That being around Rachel made the smoldering grief inside her burn just a little less intensely. That Rachel was all of a sudden the only good thing in Chloe's life, and that she didn't know anything about her at all.

_ Who even is she, _ Chloe wondered, not for the first time.

Rachel caught her staring. She raised an eyebrow and quirked her lips. "What's up?"

"Nothing," said Chloe, looking away and up at the ceiling. A slight blush colored her features.  _ Fuck, _ she thought. Sometimes, she had no idea what to say to Rachel.

"I can tell you have something on your mind," Rachel said.

"...Okay, fine," Chloe relented. "Why are you doing this? Saving me from the fire, running away together and all that. I don't get it," she said. "Do you really want to do this? With me?"

"Oh," said Rachel, quietly. She lowered her body to the mattress and laid next to Chloe. This close, Chloe could feel her body heat radiating outwards, the slow in and out of her breathing. It made the hairs on her arm stand on end. "Yes, Chloe," she breathed. "I want to be here. With you. Because I trust you."

"...Why me? We just met over a week ago. We barely know each other," she pointed out.

Rachel turned her head to look at her. "Why? I don't know... it's just a feeling I have. I feel like we're the same. Don't you feel it too?"

"I do feel it," Chloe replied. "I just... can't believe you'd do all this for a total stranger."

"We're not strangers," Rachel objected. "Or... we don't have to be. Don't you want to get to know me?"

"Of course I do," Chloe said, too quickly. Then she checked herself; she didn't want to seem desperate for Rachel's approval. "...Um, that is, if you wanna talk about it..."

Rachel looked thoughtful for a moment. "...Yes, I think now is the right time," she said. Rachel propped herself up on one elbow. She was studying Chloe with an inscrutable expression on her face. "The truth is, there's something I haven't told you yet."

"O... kay...?" Chloe shot her a confused look.

Rachel took a deep breath. "Chloe, did you ever... learn something... something so big, it changed everything for you?"

Chloe remembered the day she'd heard the news about her dad's death. A lump formed in her throat. "Yeah," she said, her voice hoarse.

"...Me, too." Rachel said. She traced a divot in the fabric of the mattress with one finger. "I learned a secret. Something that my parents knew, and that they kept from me for my entire life." She looked up, and her eyes met Chloe's. For a moment, her irises looked as though they were ringed with burning light.

"A... secret?" Chloe blinked. "What're you talking about?

"You won't tell a soul, will you?" Rachel's gaze was pleading.

"Hell no! Who would I even tell?!"

"That's a good point, but... you have to promise me, all right?" Rachel leaned towards Chloe, clasping Chloe's hand in hers. Her palms felt burning hot.

"I promise, okay?" Chloe told her. She gripped Rachel's hand back in equal measure, feeling the searing heat against her own skin. "On my life."

Rachel nodded. She took a deep breath. "The first thing you should know, Chloe, is... I lied about being an orphan. My mom and dad are still alive. Actually, they're why I'm here."

"You—" Chloe's voice caught in her throat. Rachel lied? Why would she do that? "Your parents are still alive? Do they know you're here?!"

"...No," Rachel said. Her gaze was steely. "And they'll never find me. They tried to lock me up, Chloe. They wanted to keep me from finding the truth, no matter what." She glared dead ahead. "But they can't hold me back. Not when I have... this."

" _ This? _ " Chloe blinked. "Rachel, what are you saying..."

Rachel let go of Chloe's hand and stood up. She took a step away from the mattress. "It's better if I show you."

"Show me what?" Chloe's heart rate quickened.

"Just trust me. Close your eyes for a second... and when you open them, try not to freak out."

"...Okay," Chloe said, and reluctantly closed her eyes.  _ What is she gonna show me? A gnarly scar? An embarrassing tattoo? Or something... worse? _

There was a sound like crackling radio static, and something in the room... changed. Chloe felt the snap of electricity in the air, and a wave of hot, dry wind passed over her body.  _ That's strange. Aren't we indoors? _

"Open your eyes," came Rachel's voice.

Chloe did as she was told and slowly opened her eyes.

Rachel stood above her, but she was... different. Her dark golden hair was floating in all directions around her head, whipped about by a sudden localized windstorm. Pure-white ice crystals covered the fingers on her left hand and spread up her arm; on the other side, her right hand was engulfed in flames. A vortex of wind surrounded her, blowing scraps of paper and trash all around the room. Her golden irises were glowing, light like a flame burning from within. She looked inhumanly beautiful, and seemed to be brimming with immense power that was barely contained within her teenage form.

"Whoa," gasped Chloe.

The miniature tornado that was swirling around the room quelled to a still. The ice melted and the flames on her arm flickered out. Rachel looked directly at Chloe as the fire within her eyes returned to its regular hazel shade.

"I have powers," she said simply.

For an extended moment, Chloe simply sat there, staring at her in awe. She'd seen Heroes, of course — in the sterile and organized way they presented themselves to the public. Compared to that, the display of raw power before her was far and beyond her wildest imagination. It made the Heroes look like amateurs in comparison. Rachel was literally superhuman.

"Holy shit," she breathed.

Rachel took a seat on the mattress beside her again. Chloe felt her warm hand slide across the back of her shirt and startled a little.

"You okay?" Rachel asked her in her calm, even voice.

"Am I— am I okay? Rachel... you're a goddamn superhero!"

Rachel shook her head. "I'm not... but I _ am  _ a metahuman."

"What are you— how did you—" Chloe struggled to find words for a moment. "How is that possible?!"

"My mother..." Rachel said. "My real mom. She was a metahuman, too." The flame in her eyes flickered again. "They hid her existence from me. My father and my fake mother, both. If they'd had their way, I never would've discovered the truth." She clenched her fist. "But I'm gonna find her. I know she's here in New Arcadia. That's why I ran away, from them and all their lies. Because... I need to know the truth. I need to know who she really was."

Chloe was reeling with the truth she'd just discovered. Suddenly she had a much better idea of Rachel's motivations. "So that's why..."

Rachel nodded. "Chloe," she said. "I know I'm asking so much of you already. Running away from your stepdad, living together with me in this junkyard, but... I need your help." She clenched her jaw. "I'm going to find my mom. I'll comb the entire city if I have to. But I can't do it alone. Will you help me?"

"Will I...? Of course I will!" Chloe said instantly. "Rach, you saved my life, so I owe you one. Besides, I'd take living with you in this garbage heap a million times over living with Step-douche. Plus, holy crap, you have powers! That's so fucking cool," she said, grinning.

Rachel smiled in response. She took Chloe's left hand in both of hers, and traced a line on Chloe's palm with a searing-hot fingertip. The sensation sent chills up Chloe's spine as well as caused her to blush crimson red.

"You are hella interesting, Chloe Price," said Rachel.

"U-umm," Chloe said, stuttering through the rushing blood in her ears. " _ Hella? _ Who says that?" Her heart was pounding in her chest. "A-anyway, you're a fucking... force of nature, so... I'd say you're way more interesting than me."

Rachel laughed, a bright musical sound. "It's a Cali girl thing," she said. "...And honestly, I don't have full control over my powers, so I wouldn't say I'm a force of nature just yet."

"Coulda fooled me..." she shook her head. "I still can barely believe you're real... and not like, some crazy dream or something that I made up to make myself feel better."

"Oh, I'm definitely real all right." Rachel grinned. Then she leaned in closer, her breath gusting over Chloe's ear. "You're about to discover just how real I can be."

\---

Present Day.

\---

"So, you and Rachel..." Max said. They were sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor of the hideout in the junkyard. "You built this place together?"

"Yeah. It took a couple months, but there was loads of stuff to work with here," Chloe said. She stood up and pointed at the metal plate which formed the ceiling. "See this? These were two pieces which we welded together using Rachel's powers."

Max looked at the rough join between the sheets of metal. That Rachel had melted them with her bare hands was astonishing. "I can't believe you were friends with Tempest..."

Chloe grinned. "Taught her everything she knows! Well, everything that doesn't have to do with being a fucking demigod, I guess..." Chloe shrugged. "To be honest, we were just kinda figuring it out as we went along. Rachel grew up privileged, so she didn't exactly have much in the way of survival skills... and I'd camped out here a few times before, but not many. So neither of us knew what the fuck we were doing, at first."

"What did you eat? Or drink?" Max asked, curious.

"Instant noodles and dry cereal, mostly," Chloe said. "Rachel was actually a vegetarian at first — can you believe it? She got over that pretty fast once we got hungry, though." She shrugged. "Plus, the Two Whales hooked us up with free meals once or twice a week. That definitely kept us on our feet."

"That was good of them," agreed Max.

"Yeah. Though they really just felt sorry for me, after I lost Joyce." Chloe shrugged. "As for water... you see that tower over there?" She pointed out the window towards a faded white building on the other side of the train tracks, peeking out from between the trees on the hill. "There's still water in that thing, for the firefighters and stuff. So Rachel and I took some of it. She even figured out how to use her ice powers to freeze it so that we could have a makeshift fridge."

"Sounds like you were pretty resourceful."

"Hell yeah we were. I even fixed up my truck using spare parts from all the junkers lying around here." Chloe grinned. "Like I said, this place rules. One man's trash... and all that jazz."

"I bet it was great," Max said, "getting your truck up and running."

"Oh my god, it was amazing," Chloe said. "It was like... wings. I mean, Rachel could basically fly already using her wind powers, but I didn't have any of that. All I had was my wheels. I guess that's my superpower. That's why that truck will always be my baby."

Max craned her neck to look out the window. The piles of scrap and rust, which before had seemed like just a sign of urban decay, were starting to look familiar; almost homely. It was still far from the level of comfort that she was used to, but she was beginning to understand how Chloe and Rachel had managed to survive on their own in this place for so long.

She looked back at Chloe, who had lapsed into silence and was examining a poster on the wall. The blue-haired girl had a spark in her eye, one that reminded Max of her adventurous streak she always had when they were kids.

"So... when did you become Raven and Crow?" Max asked. "Did you ever find Rachel's mom?"

Chloe made eye contact with Max. "I'm getting to that," she said. "It turned out, finding her was gonna be more difficult than we thought. We were gonna have to resort to something a little... unconventional."

"Unconventional...?"

"...Illegal." Chloe gave a shrug. "But when you're Rachel Amber, little things like laws and danger need not apply."

"Oh, geez..." Max had an uncomfortable feeling in her gut. She didn't like where this was going.

"Yeah," said Chloe. "That's how we ended up breaking into the New Arcadia Police HQ."

\---

Three and a Half Years Ago.

\---

"Are you crazy?!" Chloe gaped at Rachel, shaking her head in disbelief. "We are _ not _ breaking into the New Arcadia PD. Do you  _ want _ to get us arrested?"

"What I _ want _ is the truth," said Rachel.

They were seated on the deck of the boat in the center of the junkyard. Perched on the table between them was a radio police blotter, which they'd dug out of the corpse of a police vehicle. With fresh batteries, it still worked and was murmuring static and the occasional coded alarm.

Rachel was in another one of her restless moods; the fire flickered in her eyes and tiny sparks were dancing around her fingertips as she paced back and forth across the deck. Whenever she got like this, Chloe knew there was little she could say or do to distract her from whatever was on her mind.

"I know that my mom was involved with drugs... that's why she came back to New Arcadia," Rachel was saying. "And I know she has a criminal record. If we're going to find out where she is, the police are going to have the most current info."

"Yeah, but..." Chloe shot her an imploring look. Out of the two of them, how did she end up being the voice of reason? "It's the police. Also known as, David Madsen's kingdom of assholes. They're already looking for us, and you wanna walk right in their front door?"

"Well, not the  _ front _ door..." Rachel began. Then she looked up at Chloe. Her burning orange eyes locked with Chloe's own. "You know... they've got a file on the guy that killed your dad, too."

"...Oh." Chloe hadn't thought of that. The thought that Demonhead was still out there triggered a flare of rage inside her.

"We both want answers. The only way we're gonna get them is if we take them for ourselves."

"I..." Chloe frowned, covering her mouth with the palm of her hand. "I don't know... it's insanely risky. We could lose everything. I'd be forced to live with Step-douche again... if they didn't straight up throw me in jail. And if they found out about you and your powers, they'd just... turn you over to the Heroes, or whatever it is they do to metas who don't wanna play by their rules..." Her voice cracked. "Rachel, I can't lose you too!"

"Shhh, I know," Rachel said. The fire faded from her eyes as she knelt to face Chloe. Her warm hand reached up to brush a lock of Chloe's hair behind her ear. "I know, Chloe. I don't want to lose this, either. That's why... I have an idea." A grin spread across Rachel's face. "I think you're gonna like it."

"Why am I filled with dread all of a sudden?"

"You'll see," Rachel said in a singsong-y voice, before disappearing inside the cabin of the boat.

Chloe bounced her knee impatiently as she waited for Rachel to return. There was the sound of a drawer opening and closing and some rustling of cloth, and then Rachel emerged from the cabin again.

"Look at me, Chloe."

Chloe looked up, and gave a start. Rachel had changed clothes, replacing her T-shirt with a dark, long-sleeved jacket with tattered sleeves and tail. The strips of cloth hung down, evoking an image of scruffy, ragged feathers. Most prominently, her face was obscured by a black mask. It looked as though she had cut eye holes in a strip of black cloth and then mounted a beaked masquerade mask on top. Within the mask, her orange eyes burned brightly.

Rachel spun around, the cloth feathers trailing behind her. "Well? What do you think?"

"...Cool costume," Chloe said, uncertain. "But... what does playing dress-up have to do with breaking into the police HQ?"

"It's not a costume," Rachel said, pouting. "It's a disguise . An alter-ego. The police can't catch us if they don't know it's  _ us, _ can they?" She held out her other hand, from which dangled another strip of cloth. "I made you one, too. Try it on?"

Chloe accepted the mask from Rachel. Feeling somewhat ridiculous, she held it up to her face and tied it around the back of her head. Rachel helpfully held out a shard of mirrored glass so that Chloe could check out her reflection. The beaked mask was nearly identical to Rachel's, and it obscured most of Chloe's face. The masked woman that stared back at her looked a little different from her normal self-image; a little more dangerous, a little more daring.

"I even came up with codenames for us," said Rachel. "I'm Raven. You can be Crow."

Chloe tore her gaze away from the mirror and looked over at Rachel again. "Masks and fake names? Rach, are you trying to make us into Heroes?"

"Not exactly, but... if it works for them..." Rachel shrugged. "I figured we could try it, too. You can feel it, right?"

Chloe did feel it. The mask made her feel... different. Less like the homeless girl who lost her parents, more like the bold runaway who was going to take back what the world had stolen from her.

"I..." Chloe hesitated. Everything that Rachel was proposing still sounded like a reckless, insane idea. But as she looked up and saw the determined look in Rachel's eyes, she realized that nothing she could say would change her mind. Moreover, she didn't want to.

"Well?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms and tapping her toe impatiently.

Chloe gave a heavy sigh. " _ Fine. _ But I reserve the right to say 'I told you so' in the future, if we get caught."

Rachel's mouth curled into a coy smile. "I knew I'd get through to you eventually, Chloe," she said smugly. "And don't worry. We're not gonna charge straight in; that would be idiotic."

"At least you admit that," Chloe said, rolling her eyes.

The corners of Rachel's eyes crinkled with delight. "That's why you and I are going to come up with a plan."

\---

Present Day.

\---

"So you actually did it?" asked Max. "You broke into the police HQ?"

"Yup," said Chloe, her eyes bright as she paced around the room. She seemed to be filled with an enthusiastic energy as she recounted their adventures. "First, we cased the joint. Rach and I camped out there for days, until we had a pretty good sense of when the shift changes took place, where the entrances to the building were and where there were cameras. Then... I used the spare key to David's apartment to break in while he was at work, and I nicked his ID card." She grinned. "Any excuse to stick it to Step-douche is a good one."

"That definitely would make it easier to get in..."

Chloe grinned. "Once we had the key card, we waited for the right moment. We listened to the police blotter, and one night there was a bank robbery super late at night that had most of the force occupied. We entered through the back, where there's just a couple security guards. Raven snuck up behind 'em and froze them in place with her ice powers, and deactivated the security system. I got inside with David's ID card, and headed towards the case files room."

"I hope you found what you were looking for," Max said, frowning.

Rather than respond right away, Chloe walked across the room again and approached the old wooden dresser. She pulled out the one drawer that was still intact, and out of it withdrew a number of paper files. These she threw down onto the carpet in between herself and Max. There were three files: two in blank manila envelopes, and one which bore a large red stamp with the word "METAHUMAN".

Max reached for that one, curiosity brimming within, but Chloe stopped her. "Wait, Max. Check out this one first," Chloe said, pushing one of the blank envelopes towards her.

She nodded and opened the folder. Immediately, she recognized the face in the photograph; it was because she'd taken the picture herself, before she'd moved away from New Arcadia. She was looking at William Price's case file.

**Deceased 9/28/45** , read the file in indifferent typeface. Underneath, it detailed the known intel about the case: cause of death, surviving relatives, and the status of the investigation, which was listed as  _ closed pending further evidence. _ Down in the notes section, a note said,  **Refer to Incident Report B-3011** .

Sure enough, the file underneath it was marked with a label that read  **B-3011** . Max opened it, and saw that the folder held several sheets of paper within. The first was a description of the incident that had cost William his life: the villain attack on the overpass. It listed the amount of property damage caused, which totaled in the hundreds of thousands, as well as the dozens of injuries and fatalities that occurred during the incident.

_ All those people... that's so sad, _ Max thought as she turned to the next page on the file. This page detailed all that the police knew about Demonhead, the villain that was behind the attack. The only photograph they had of him was a blurry picture taken from a surveillance drone. True to Chloe's description, he had a monstrous appearance, with blood red skin, jagged claws, and enormous horns curving from his forehead. Any other information the police had on him was sparse: he hadn't been seen since the incident. However, there were a few recorded sightings before then: he had apparently been known to work as hired muscle for New Arcadia's most notorious crime lords.

"It says here that he hasn't been seen since the attack," Max pointed out. "Maybe he's already... dead?"

"I wish," Chloe said. "But deep down I know that's not the case. His criminal underworld buddies found some way to smuggle him out of the city, or hide him somewhere no one will find. Either way... I won't rest until I know for sure."

"Right," said Max.  _ Based on her tone... I don't think she and Rachel managed to locate him, in the end. _

She closed the incident folder and brought out the file labeled METAHUMAN. "Okay, Max. Take a look at this one now."

Curiosity brimming within her, Max flipped open the Metahuman file. On the photocopied sheet of paper was the face of a middle-aged woman, and a name:  **Sera Gearhardt** . It included a suite of personal info: date of birth (Oct. 11, 1999), known associates, family members and a list of criminal offenses.

"Is this..." Max studied the woman's file. Under family, the name "Rachel Amber" was listed. Max put two and two together. "Is this Rachel's mom?"

Chloe leaned over her shoulder to study the file along with her. "Yeah," she confirmed. "That's Sera. Turns out she re-entered the city less than a year before Rachel ran away here."

Max studied the contents of the file closely. "That's... weird. It doesn't say anything about what kind of powers she has."

"Rachel didn't know, either," Chloe said. "But it doesn't matter. If you're any type of metahuman at all... even if your powers are just like, using your fingertip as a lighter, then there's people who wanna exploit that..." She pointed to a name listed under the known associates column. "...People like  _ Damon Merrick. _ " She spit the name like venom.

Max looked at her, confused. "Who's Damon Merrick?"

"Only the nastiest scumbag in New Arcadia," Chloe said.

She stood up, dusting herself off, and crossed the room to a tapestry that was hanging over one wall. With a large gesture, she tore the thin piece of fabric off of the wall. Strips of paper and dust motes fluttered in its wake as Max saw what was underneath: a map of New Arcadia covered in pins, and a mugshot of a man's face.

"Damon's what you'd call a kingpin," Chloe said, pointing to the mugshot. "Any kind of criminal activity in the city... drugs, robbery, extortion, kidnapping, even murder... almost all of it can be traced back to him in some way. Like, if Dogcatcher's a piranha, Damon's a great white shark."

Max studied the mugshot. Damon Merrick certainly looked the part of a super-criminal, with a menacing neck tattoo, scars and a hateful expression on his face. The paper was covered in knife cuts and small burns, as though somebody had been using it for target practice.

"He sounds dangerous..." she said, hesitant.

"Yeah," Chloe said. "He's behind lots of the Villains in the city too. Any Metas that he can get his hands on... ones with 'undesirable' powers, Hero Association rejects and the like... he snatches them up, gets them hooked on drugs, and uses them for his own personal metahuman army."

"That's... terrifying," Max said. "Doesn't the Hero Association know? Why don't they stop him?"

"Oh, they know," Chloe said with a shrug. "They've been trying to for ages. But it's useless. Dude's got so many underlings, he never has to get his hands dirty himself. They haven't gotten any charges against him to stick... he's built up an empire that makes him basically untouchable." She looked back towards Max. "That's why... Rachel and I needed a different tactic if we were gonna get close to him."

"Why would you—" Max said, alarm flaring up in her chest. "You just told me he's a murderer that manipulates Metahumans, Chloe. Why would you want to get close to him?"

Chloe crossed back over to her. "Look at Demonhead's file again, Max. Check under 'known associates.'"

Max dutifully did as she was told. Sure enough, under known associates in the Villain's file, there was a familiar name:  _ Damon Merrick. _

"Turns out, my dad and Rachel's mom's cases had a link. They were both connected to this asshole." Chloe gathered the files up from the table again. "So Rachel and I knew where we needed to look next, if we were gonna find our targets. And fortunately, we already had an 'in' on his organization..." She raised an eyebrow at Max and paused, as though waiting for Max to connect the dots herself.

There was only one person who Max could think of in Chloe's circle that had criminal connections. "...Dogcatcher?"

"B-I-N-G-O, Detective Max," Chloe said. "Dogman was our dealer, so he was connected to Damon and supplying his cronies with drugs. And I figured... if I can't beat 'em..."

"You joined Damon's organization?!" Max asked, alarmed.

"Hey, now," said Chloe. "It sounds stupid risky now... but it seemed like a good idea back then. And this time, it was  _ my _ idea."

\---

Three Years Ago.

\---

"So let me get this straight," said Dogcatcher. "You want... to work for  _ me. _ "

"That's right," said Chloe. She was sitting in Dogcatcher's filthy RV. His puppy, Pompidou, was rolling around on the floor by Chloe's feet, biting at her shoelaces. She reached down to give him a scratch behind the ear and received a nip to her fingers in return. "You know I'm good for it."

"The only thing you're  _ good for _ is the two hundred fifty bucks you still owe me," he growled.

"I know," Chloe said. "That's why I'll work for free, until I've earned back everything I owe... plus interest."

"How should I know you'll make good on it?" He shook his head. "You think I'm some kinda charity case, Price?"

"I'm not looking for charity, I'm serious," she stressed. "I think this could be a... business arrangement, one that benefits both of us."

"Listen to yourself. You sound ridiculous. Quit pretending to be something you're not."

"Gee, that's rich coming from you, Frank."

"I _told_ you to call me Dogcatcher," he growled.

"Fine. Then stop lecturing me about trying to be something I'm not," Chloe told him. "I'm not the one choosing silly nicknames for myself, like a wanna-be Villain or whatever. That's on you."

Frank rolled his eyes at her. Pompidou gave a petulant bark from the floor by her feet, and began nuzzling at the pocket of her shredded jeans. She reached inside and withdrew a stick of jerky. Breaking it in half, she tossed one end to the puppy while she ate the other end herself.

"Face it, Dogman. Business is booming, but you can't handle it all on your own. That's why you need me."

"I can handle it just fine," he said. "The hell do you know?"

"I know that you're never in one place for more than twenty minutes. That you're so paranoid of the cops and Heroes, you're constantly moving all across the city to make deliveries. The last time I picked up from you, the only time you'd meet was at 2 AM. You look like shit, dude. You need some sleep."

Frank scowled and clenched his hand in a fist. "Tell me I look like shit one more time—"

"Hey, hey, relax, dude. All I'm saying is, you could use some help. Someone who can make deliveries for you. Someone who can follow up on your late payments. Someone that's fast, discreet, and anonymous." She tapped on her chest. "I'm all those, plus I have my own car."

"Your car? You mean that big, slow, noisy hunk of trash?" Frank rolled his eyes. "Not exactly what I'd call discreet."

"Hey!" Chloe felt a surge of defensiveness; her car may be a hunk of trash, but god damn it, it was  _ hers. _ "My car might be big, but it's more discreet than you think. Like, know how most cars in the city are on the auto-traffic network? Means police and Heroes can look up the ID of anybody on the road and track them down instantly. My car is too old for that, though. As far as their computer systems know, I'm invisible."

Frank seemed to consider this. He scratched his beard in thought. "Why should I trust you? How do I know you won't sell me out soon as you have the chance?"

"Dude, you know I hate cops and Heroes as much as you do," Chloe said. "We're a lot alike, you and me. We don't play by society's rules. Plus, you've known me for a while. Aren't I your favorite customer?"

"No," said Frank. "My favorite customers are the ones that pay me back."

"...Okay, okay." Chloe gave a small laugh and raised her hands up in mock submission. "I'm only yanking your chain, Dogman. Truth is, there aren't too many above-table opportunities for someone like me. But I have skills that make me useful for someone in your situation. Plus, I'll totally work for free until I've made back what I owe you." She held out her hand, which was immediately attacked by Pompidou and covered in puppy kisses. "So, whaddaya say?"

Frank glared at her. Then he sighed, and nudged Pompidou away with one foot before taking Chloe's hand in his for a brief handshake. "Fine, Price," he said. "I'll give you a trial run. Depending on how that goes, I might give you more. But you're not seeing a cent from me until you make back everything you owe me."

"Aye aye, Dogman," Chloe said, hiding her smile behind the fabric of her hoodie.

"And you're not running my jobs looking like that," Frank told her. "You'll stick out like the goddamn teenager you are. Cover your face up or something."

Part of Chloe smugly remembered her Crow mask, which was hidden away in the glove compartment of her truck. She was no stranger to hiding her identity. "Fine," she said. "How about a bandana and goggles?"

"Whatever," Frank said. "Don't care, as long as no one knows it's you."

"Right-o," Chloe said. "Hey, now that we made our business arrangement, how 'bout we commemorate it with a little bake sesh?"

"Absolutely not," said Frank. "Now get out of my van. I'll text you later with details on the job."

"Aww, okay," Chloe said, smiling as she got up from her chair and walked to the door. Pompidou followed after her, barking and wagging his tail. "I won't let you down, Dogman."

"You'd better not. And it's  _ Dogcatcher. _ "

"Yeah, that. See ya later," she said, waving goodbye as she stepped out of the RV and onto the concrete of the abandoned parking lot.

Once she was out of sight, she gave a victorious fist pump.  _ Yesssss!  _ She'd managed to secure the job... and she was one step closer to tracking down her father's killer.

\---

Present Day.

\---

"So  _ that's _ how you ended up working for Dogcatcher," Max said, her expression thoughtful.

Chloe sucked in air through her teeth. She wore a regretful expression on her face. "...Yeah," she said. "Like I said, I'm not proud of it. But I did what I had to, so that we could survive." She sighed. "Rachel and I had it rough. Any money we could get, we used for stuff like clothes and food. Staying warm, surviving the winter, you know."

"I don't... blame you, Chloe," Max told her. "I understand. You wouldn't have done it unless you had to."

"Well..." she looked askance. "Fact is... I got really good at it. So Frank started trusting me more. Assigning me to his bigger, more dangerous clients. Damon's inner circle... some of New Arcadia's worst and evilest. Turns out there were certain places they liked to get together, especially before executing a robbery or kidnapping or whatever." She stood up and approached the map of New Arcadia on the wall. There were multicolored pins scattered all across the map. "I kept track of pick-up and drop-off points. Over the months, we got a pretty good picture of where the preferred hangout spots for Damon's gang were."

"What was it like?" Max leaned in close. "It sounds dangerous."

"It was hella risky. For one, I had to dodge cops and Heroes constantly. I had a few pretty close shaves, but I was too quick for 'em to catch." She looked proud as she said this.

_ But I caught you, _ Max thought, remembering how she'd chased Chloe to the roof of a building that one time. Perhaps they were meant to meet on that day, though.

"That must be how you got on the Heroes' bad side, then," Max mused.

Chloe nodded. "Uh-huh. But the Heroes were not really what you gotta worry about. Those were the clients... when you're dealing with Damon's gang members, you never know what kinda scumbag you're gonna meet." Chloe pulled back her hoodie sleeve, and Max saw the white streak of a scar on her forearm, just below her tattoo. "Got this one when I let my guard down around a souped-up freak show who didn't wanna pay out, and he pulled a knife on me."

Max hesitantly reached out a hand, as if asking for permission to touch Chloe's scar. Chloe nodded, and she ran her fingertips over the raised skin, feeling the bumpy scar tissue underneath. "Oh, Chloe..."

"You gotta admit, though, it looks badass, right?" Chloe said, grinning crookedly. Then her smile fell. "Rachel definitely freaked when she found out what happened. She disappeared for a day after that. I had no idea where she went... until I heard from Dogcatcher that the guy that did it was hospitalized 'cuz of burns all over his body."

"Holy shit," Max breathed.

"Yeah," Chloe said. "You don't fuck with the Raven. But that was when we decided... the world wasn't gonna go easy on us. So I needed to learn how to fight back."

Chloe stood up again. Max watched as she approached the dresser again and reached into the drawer, pulling out a number of items, which she spread on the carpet in between them. It was a small collection of weapons: a switchblade, a butterfly knife, a stick of pepper spray, a set of brass knuckles.

"By that point, Rachel had gotten, like, crazy powerful," Chloe explained as she laid out the weapons. "She was basically like... a human storm. Controlling fire and ice, summoning gusts of wind and shit. She could even fly!"

"Her powers really are amazing," agreed Max.

"Yeah. Compared to that... I had to make do with whatever I could find. But I had a few advantages, too." She grinned. "I'm faster. Quieter. And everybody underestimates me." She slipped on the brass knuckles, clenching and unclenching her hand into a fist. "They wouldn't underestimate me for long."

Max inhaled sharply. She had a bad feeling about where this was going. "What were you planning?"

"Rachel was determined to find her mom," Chloe said. "So, based on my intel... once she knew where Damon's gang liked to meet... she decided to show up there in person and demand the truth."

\---

Two and a Half Years Ago.

\---

The night was cold and wreathed in snow. Ice collected in the cracks of the pavement and crunched underfoot as Raven and Crow snuck up towards a nondescript door at the end of a dingy alleyway. Light was shining from the crack beneath the door, and the occasional shadow passed in front of it. Murmured voices from within indicated a number of people were gathered there.

Crow let out a shaky breath, which hung in the frosty air around them. She'd delivered packages to this location numerous times before, so she knew what lay beyond the door: the place was a drug and gambling den frequented by Damon Merrick's inner circle. But this was her first time showing up uninvited, and in the company of Raven besides.

She mentally reviewed the plan. There was nothing subtle about it: Raven was going to blast her way in, take what information they needed, and then fly them to safety. Crow's job was going to be to wait in the wings, and to create a distraction or pull Raven out if things got too dicey.

Tonight, Raven was focused with a single-minded intensity. She leaned against the door and put her ear against it. After listening in for a few seconds, she nodded and indicated that Crow should take a step back. Her eyes lit up with orange fire beneath her mask as she held out one hand against the metal door, light gathering in the palm of her hand as she inhaled and focused deeply.

With a resounding BOOM, a massive fireball exploded out of her hand, blasting the door off its hinges, flinging it clear across the room and sending it crashing against the far wall. She then strode confidently through the open door, stepping over cinders with a smile underneath her beaked mask.

Crow crept up close to the now-empty doorway, holding her breath as she peered around the corner and inside.

In response to the explosion, the seven men who were seated in the room scrambled to their feet as Raven stormed inside. One of the burly guards by the door reached for the shotgun at his hip; but before he could fire, Raven made a sweeping motion across the room with her left hand. A vortex of wind and crystalline shards of ice swirled outwards from her in every direction. Ice crystals formed around their arms, legs, and drawn weapons, freezing them into immobility.

"Where's Sera?!" she demanded, howling icy winds swirling around her. One of the men ran towards her, brandishing an iron pipe; with almost zero effort, Raven extended a hand and blasted him against a far wall with wind and ice.

In her other hand, a white-hot ball of fire formed. She strode right up to one of the men who had been frozen in place at the center of the room, who was looking at her with fear and confusion. She held the super-hot sphere of flame up close to his face, so that its heat began to melt off the ice that had collected on his hair and beard.

"Tell me where she is,  _ now, _ " Raven said again, more quietly but with equal intensity, as she pressed the fireball up close to his face. Some of his beard hairs began to blacken and smolder.

"I—I don't know who you're t-talking about," said the man, looking at her in wide-eyed fear. "I-if you're looking for the b-boss, he — he left half an hour ago."

The flame in Raven's hand sputtered and faded, as she hesitated for a second. Then the light in her eyes flared up again, and she sent the man flying into the far wall with a blast of wind, where he landed atop two of the other gang members.

Raven advanced on them, fire swirling in a vortex around her feet, melting the ice as she walked. "You are going to tell me where to find Damon," she said, "Or everyone in this building will  _ burn. _ "

"Who — who the hell are you?" sputtered one of the men. "You with the Heroes?"

"Who am I?" Raven reached down and grabbed the front of his jacket. As she hauled him upwards, the swirling winds lifted them both off their feet. "I'm not a Hero. I'm everybody you ever hurt, every family your gang tore apart. I'm going to make you feel every ounce of pain you inflicted on them, ten times over, unless you start talking... right... now!!"

"I don't know! Please, you have to believe me!" The man she was holding grabbed her arm and looked up at her with a desperate expression. "He got a phone call... then he just left. Didn't say where he was going or nothing."

"You're lying," hissed Raven. The flames began to gather in her hand again, which she pressed closer and closer to the man's face.

Crow couldn't sit still and watch this any longer. Raven was about to do something she couldn't take back. "Raven, WAIT!" she shouted through the winds that were blasting outwards from Raven.

Raven's gaze flickered back towards her. "What are you doing? Go back outside! I've got this!"

Undeterred, Crow pushed through the swirling ice, wind, and fire to place a hand on Raven's arm. "Sera and Damon — they're not here," she shouted through the howling wind. "These guys're just a bunch of dumb thugs. We should go."

Raven looked down at her, glowing eyes widening in surprise. Then her gaze snapped to the man in front of her once again. "No," she said, voice low and filled with rage, "not until they tell me where Damon is."

Crow cast a furtive look around the room. One of the two bouncers with shotguns had broken clear of the ice that was restricting his mobility, and had leveled the gun in Raven's direction.

"Look out!!" Crow shouted, launching her body into Raven's and knocking her out of the way just as the blast of buckshot crossed the space where she'd been just seconds before, pockmarking the wall behind them with tiny holes. They fell into a heap, from which Crow rapidly disentangled herself and helped Raven up to her feet.

More and more of the men around the room had managed to break free of the ice and were advancing on the duo from all sides. Crow straightened up, stepping backwards until she was back-to-back with Raven. Her eyes darted around the room, glancing from one thug to the next. The man who had fired the gun spat on the ground in frustration at having missed his shot, and began reloading.

"Oh, is that it?" asked Raven in a sing-songy voice, dusting herself off. "You wanna fight, huh?"

"Raven..." Crow said, a warning in her voice. "Take these guys out and let's get outta here."

"Don't worry, Crow," Raven said. "It won't be much of a challenge."

The wind picked up around them again, swirling in a cone and battering the sides of the room. Raven smiled, giving her fingers a twitch, and the whole room filled with blinding light.

\---

Present Day.

\---

"Once Rachel got a taste of revenge," Chloe said, "I couldn't stop her, even if I tried."

Max frowned. "Rachel... when she attacked these gang member, did she..." she struggled to put it into words. "Did she kill them?"

Chloe shook her head. "Not intentionally... but. I don't think collateral damage mattered to her much. She was past the point of caring, she only wanted to find her mom. So a lot of them were pretty badly hurt. Covered in burns, broken bones, and the like." Her voice lowered to a near whisper, she muttered, "...Not like I went easy on 'em, either."

Max gave a small gasp. "Chloe... what did you do?"

"It was only in self-defense! Well... mostly. Sometimes, they'd make a move on Rachel. Try and grab her, or sneak up from behind and... anyway ," she said with an awkward clearing of her throat, "Rachel knew I always had her back. And she had mine."

Chloe stood up, and approached the map of New Arcadia on the wall. She placed her finger on one red thumbtack, then the next, tracing a zigzagging route across the city.

"We hit hideout after hideout after hideout. All of 'em full of Damon's thugs... but every time it was the same. We'd strike a location, one where we had good intel that Damon was gonna be there. We'd get there... and find out that he'd left before we arrived. Rachel would wreck the place, and we'd make a break for it," Chloe said. She sighed. "It was like he knew we were coming, somehow. Like... someone or something would tip him off, and he'd give us the slip. Every. Freakin'. Time."

"That seems... unlikely," Max said.

"Yeah," said Chloe. "It wasn't a coincidence. But it took me forever to figure out why. I actually figured it out before Rachel did. It started when I began having these... dreams."

"Dreams?" Max gave her a curious look.

Chloe had a thoughtful look in her eye. "It started off kinda vague. Weird images of the fire, crows, things like that. But it soon got even weirder." She cast a glance over to Max. "I'd wake up in the morning, and I'd have written things all over my arms in the night. You know me, Max, and how I don't fuck with mystical bullshit most of the time, right? Well, this wasn't like that. There was someone trying to talk to me through my dreams."

"Someone — like, a metahuman?"

Chloe nodded. "Yeah. They were... sending images directly into my brain, I think. They said they had a message for me, and me only. I thought it was bullshit... but then the person in my dream told me who they were." Chloe breathed in deep, and sighed. "It was Sera."

"Rachel's mom?" Max looked at her, confused. "Is she a psychic, or something?"

"Yeah... something like that," said Chloe. "She was powerful, whatever she was. Maybe as powerful as Rachel... but she told me to keep my dreams secret. She didn't want me to tell Rachel about her."

"...Why did she want that? What did she say to you?"

"She told me about a location where she would meet me, and only me. Said she had something to tell me." She wore a pained look in her eyes. "I still don't know what would've happened if I'd gone along as she told me. But... I couldn't keep things from Rachel. Not something this big, something that involved her mom..." She shook her head. "So I told Rachel everything. About the dreams, and Sera, and the place she wanted to meet. Of course Rachel wanted to come with," Chloe said. "If I'd— if I'd just, not told her, and gone to meet Sera on my own, maybe things wouldn't..."

Chloe's tone worried Max. "What... what happened?"

"It was a trap," said Chloe in a monotone, "Sera was there, sure. But she wasn't alone. They were expecting us."

\---

Two Years Ago.

\---

_ Something's not right. _ That thought was constantly echoing around the inside of Crow's head as she and Raven walked along the train tracks towards the location Crow had seen in her dream.

Sera's instructions had been clear:  _ Three miles down from the junkyard. Past the thunderstruck tree and over some rotting fence posts. I'll be waiting inside the old mill. _ It was as though she'd walked this path a hundred times before. With every footfall, Crow was experiencing serious deja vu.

By her side, Raven was restless. Knowing that she'd finally get to meet her mother, after trying and failing to find her for nearly two years, made her nervous. She was unusually silent by Crow's side, not even toying with her powers like she usually did when there was something on her mind.

Something about this trip made Crow feel like they were going past the point of no return.

They came to the tree that Sera had shown her in the dream, that was split down the center by a lightning strike. Just past it, invisible unless you knew where to look, was a foot path that led downhill and around a bend. Crow gestured that Raven should follow her, and the two pushed aside foliage and headed towards the old mill.

The building that came into view was a derelict ruin. Mossy wooden boards and rusted-over steel equipment indicated that it had once been used as a sawmill, although it looked to be over a century old now. Parts of it were caved in by fallen trees, and one side had been ripped clean off, presumably in the Cataclysm. It made the shack where Crow and Raven lived look like a five-star hotel by comparison.

There was one unusual detail: parked outside the entrance to the mill was a shiny, black sports car. Seeing it, Crow's feeling of dread got even worse. They weren't alone.

Crow spied the entrance to the interior: a pair of double doors on top of a rotted-out staircase. One of the doors had fallen off its hinges and was lying beside the entrance, covered in creeping moss and the sprouts of seedlings. She gingerly picked her way up the stairs and crept inside as quietly as she could.

She turned back towards Raven and indicated using hand gestures that she should hang back. Raven seemed reluctant at first, but then she nodded in agreement and stood back, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall by the entrance.

Crow pushed in further, past the faded graffiti and the haunted-looking deer trophy on the wall, into the innermost room of the mill, a wide open space. Inside, there was a table and chairs, and seated in one of those chairs was a woman.

Sera.

She looked up as soon as Crow walked in. Despite the tear tracks down her cheeks, the frown lines and wrinkles of age and stress, it was obvious that she was a beautiful woman. The resemblance to Rachel was striking. Colorful tattoos bloomed up and down her forearms, which Chloe could see were pockmarked with scars from needle injections.

"You came," said Sera in a mournful voice. She gestured to the chair opposite her. "Sit."

Crow pulled up a chair and sat down, trying to control her breathing.  _ Raven's in the other room, _ she thought.  _ As soon as I give her the signal, she's going to run inside... _

Sera was smoking a cigarette. She let out a long exhale and tapped the ash out onto the table. "I... thought we should have a talk." She glanced up to meet Crow's eyes, then looked down again. "About my daughter."

"Rach— Raven," Crow said. "She... really wants to meet you."

"I know that," said Sera. "I've been watching her. And you. Both of you."

"How are you doing that?" Crow asked. "Is that... the dreams?"

"My powers," Sera said simply. "They were different, once. But over time, and because of... my habits... they changed. Now, they let me... see things. Like a window into another world. And they let me share my visions with others, if I want... like you, Crow."

"Why? Why me, and not your daughter?"

"I've been watching both of you," Sera said. "I know that you'd do anything to protect her. Which is why I needed to meet you in person."

Crow swallowed. If Sera had chosen to trust her in order to protect her daughter... what did it mean that Crow had betrayed her trust, and brought Raven along with her anyway?

Sera took another drag from her cigarette. "All my life," she began. "Everything I've done, since I had her... it's all been for her sake. Although I can't imagine you'll see it that way."

"Yeah, no. That's bullshit," Crow said. "You abandoned her to a family who hid the truth about you, about who she really was, for years! How in the hell could that be better?!"

"When she was born... I prayed. I thought, God, please don't let her be like me. If only..." she sighed. "If she hadn't received my Metagene. If I hadn't passed my horrible curse onto her, then maybe, just maybe she could have lived a normal life."

"That's— not true! Raven's powers... they're not a curse. They're one of the reasons she's so special. She's amazing!"

Sera shook her head sadly. "Is she really in control? How many people has she burned? How much has been destroyed already?"

A recent memory stirred in Crow's mind: on one of their raids, when Raven had torched the run-down building in their wake. As they fled the scene, Crow could still hear the men's screams echoing out into the night.

"...No!" Crow gripped the sides of her head. "She didn't— those people deserved it! She'd never hurt someone innocent. She's a good person!"

Sera sighed. "It's not her. It's the power itself. The moment she inherited my Metagene, her chance at a happy life was over. This power... it destroys you, from the inside out. Nothing can control it. Not James, not the doctors, not anyone. The only way to dull it, to hold it in check, has been..." Her gaze slid down to the table. Sitting atop the warped wood was a syringe and a metal spoon. "The drugs... they dull everything. No pain, no sensation, no powers... nothing. But they don't last forever. That's why... this arrangement suits me."

"This arrangement? You mean, how you're working for Damon?" Gears turned in Crow's mind. Suddenly, it clicked. " _ You're _ how Damon keeps avoiding us. It's because you're warning him in advance."

Sera nodded. "It's an agreement that works for both of us. He keeps me supplied with these drugs, keeps these powers in check, and in return... I get him information."

"You're— that's—" Crow struggled for words. "That's horrible! Damon's a violent murderer, and you've been... helping him... this whole time!"

"You don't understand," Sera said. "This power... from the day I was born, it's ravaged the lives of everyone and everything I've known. Not keeping it in check like this would be far, far worse. That's why I hoped that my daughter would be... normal. Have an ordinary life with an ordinary family that loves her and cares for her... far from Arcadia and all my mistakes."

"Obviously that backfired," Crow snapped. Her patience was wearing thin. "She came to New Arcadia specifically to look for you. And you've just been — avoiding her, and hiding, even when you knew she wasn't gonna stop until she found you."

"I know," said Sera, sadly. "That's why I wanted to speak to you here, today. I want you to tell her, Crow, that I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ruined her life. I'm sorry for everything."

Crow grimaced beneath her mask. "Tell her yourself," she said through grit teeth. Then she turned and shouted over her shoulder, "RAVEN!"

As soon as Crow shouted her name, the sound of footsteps pounding on wooden boards echoed through the Mill as Raven came running into the room. As soon as she entered and saw Crow and Sera seated at the table, she stopped cold. A mix of expressions crossed her hazel eyes underneath her mask: joy, surprise, alarm, relief, and apprehension. She took a tentative step forward.

"...Mom?"

Sera raised her head from her slouched position, looking up at her daughter. She didn't look surprised to see her; it was as though she knew that Raven would be there with Crow, as if it was a foregone conclusion. Her expression showed— love, yes, but a hollowness behind it, as though she'd been hoping for and dreading this very moment.

"Rachel," Sera said, voice breaking.

"Mom, I..." Raven took another step towards her. "My whole life, I've been trying... to find something missing," she said. She held out her hand, in which a tiny flame appeared, and took another step forward. "These powers... they're a sign. I knew that as long as I had them, I'd find you eventually—"

Raven was interrupted by the sound of a slow clap, which echoed outwards from the depths of the Mill. Crow scrambled to her feet and turned to face the source of the noise, as another figure stepped out from the shadows.

"Well, isn't this cute," drawled Damon Merrick as he strode out into the light from behind where Sera was seated. Crow took notice of the tribal tattoos crawling up the sides of his neck, and the high-caliber pistol that he was casually waving in one hand.

"Damon," Crow hissed.

Damon walked up behind Sera. He waved the pistol in the air, gesturing with it as he spoke. "How sweet. A heartfelt reunion between a couple of freaks-of-nature. Oh, and their pet wanna-be Hero, too," he said, pointing the gun at Crow, who bristled.

"You..." Raven said, her voice low with rage. Flames flickered in her hand.

Damon's reaction was fast. He trained the gun on her immediately. "Ah-ah-ah, little girl. You're going to regret doing that. Unless..." he took a step forward so that he was positioned behind the chair where Sera was sitting. He took the barrel of the gun and placed it against Sera's temple. "Unless you want your little heartfelt reunion to end in tragedy... you'll do exactly as I say," he said, mouth curling in a cruel smile.

The silence in the Mill was almost oppressive. Crow had to remind herself to breathe. She struggled to hear over the blood rushing in her ears. Her fight-or-flight response was in overdrive.

"Let her go," growled Raven, "Or I'll make you suffer."

"Hmm, now, why would I do that? After all, I finally have you right where I want you," Damon said.

Suddenly it clicked in Crow's mind. "You set us up," she said. She looked between Damon and Sera. "Both of you. You knew I'd tell Raven, and you knew she'd come here with me."

"Bingo," Damon said with a cruel laugh. "Guess you're not as dumb as you look, kid. You two sure are predictable as hell, though."

He pressed the pistol against the side of Sera's head and caressed her cheek with his other hand. Sera's eyes were hollow, tears rolling down her cheeks as she silently wept.

"Mom—" Raven choked out. "...Why?"

"I'm sorry, Rachel," Sera said in a voice that was mostly a croak. "I'm so sorry."

"All right—what do you want?!" Crow demanded of Damon, raising her voice to a shout.

Damon gave a low, sinister laugh. "What I want?" He gripped the side of Sera's head, pressing the gun more sharply into her temple. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you bitches have caused me? Hospitalizing my men... destroying our bases..." The smile slid off into his face, transforming into a grimace. "I should kill you both, right here. But. I think that would be too nice of me. And I'm not known to play nice."

Cold fear flooded Crow's gut. This wasn't a negotiation, she realized. This was a setup.

"Instead of doing that... I have a better idea. I'm going to make you hurt, instead. As payback for what you did to my men." He looked over at Raven. "How hard it must be, little girl, to find what you were looking for... and have it be her." He gave Sera a rough shake. "A doped-up, soulless husk. Do you know how many people she's killed? What  _ really _ caused the Cataclysm?"

"No, that's—" Raven shook her head vigorously. "You're lying, that's— not her!"

Damon laughed again, darkly. "Do you know why she came crawling back to Arcadia Bay? To me? It wasn't for  _ you. _ It was so that she could escape from all the guilt she feels. She came here... to die."

"Don't—" Crow's heart thudded in her chest. If Damon was about to do what she thought he was, then...

"I want you to know how much trouble you caused me," Damon said. "I brought you here because you bitches need to suffer for what you did. Starting... with... her."

"NO!!" screamed Raven, as Damon released the safety on the pistol that was pressed into Sera's temple. A teardrop fell from Sera's empty eyes and rolled down her cheek. Damon squeezed the trigger.

The explosion from the gun echoed throughout the old mill. Sera's body went limp, and fell to the ground as Damon released his hold on her.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Crow looked from Damon to Raven. At first, she was standing stock-still, her gaze low towards the ground. Then a breeze began to blow, gently for a second and then picking up to blistering speeds. Dust and debris blew through the air as the howling winds made the ancient wood shudder around them. Raven slowly began to lift up off the ground, her eyes burning with white-hot fire.

"You..." Raven said, her voice amplified by the wind and echoing with power. "You'll pay for what you did to her. _ I'll destroy you, you son of a bitch!" _

_ Oh fuck, _ Crow thought.  _ She's going nuclear. _

Waves of fiery wind swirled outwards from Raven's body as the vortex picked up around her. A loud CRASH echoed through the mill as a large plank of wood dislodged itself from the roof and fell through the floor below. Raven extended her hands towards Damon and, with a wordless scream, blasted the place where he stood with a superheated cone of fire.

Flames began to lick up the walls and sides of the room.  _ This place is gonna blow. If I don't get out right the fuck now, I'm dead. _ But she stood paralyzed, watching Raven unleash the pure destructive force contained within her body. _ I can't just abandon her! _

"Raven!" She shouted, her voice diminished by the howling winds and roaring flames. "RACHEL!! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

Despite shouting until her voice was hoarse, there was no response from the figure that hung in midair in the center of the room. The swirling flames around her obscured her form, so that all Crow could see was Raven's glowing-eyed silhouette. Damon Merrick was nowhere in sight.

A creaking sound from up above gave Crow scant warning as another massive wooden truss broke off from the ceiling, and she rolled out of the way just seconds before it came crashing down in the place she once stood. More burning planks rained down from overhead as Crow reached an ultimatum in her mind.

_ Sorry Rachel, _ she thought as she fled the room. Creaks and crashes echoed in her wake as the ancient wood was rapidly consumed by the fire. As she reached the entrance, she paused and looked back one last time. Raven was totally invisible; in her place was a bright-hot swirling sphere of flames, expanding larger and larger every second, incinerating everything within its radius.

Just as she was about to turn and run, she thought she saw another silhouette moving between the pouring smoke and flames. It was larger than human, fourteen or fifteen feet tall. Even in the obscuring smoke, there was no mistaking the sharp, jagged claws on the tips of his fingers, nor the enormous horns which curved out of the top of his skull.

With a resounding CRASH, the sides of the mill collapsed inward, and everything was bathed in smoke and fire.

\---

Present Day.

\---

By the time Chloe finished recounting her story, the sun had sunk low to the horizon. The shadows of trees grew long, stretching across the junkyard. A cool breeze accompanied the rapidly-approaching night, and so Chloe turned on a heat lamp and pulled an old comforter blanket out from the chest of drawers. It smelled somewhat musty but was otherwise warm and dry, and she offered this to Max, who gratefully accepted it and wrapped it around herself.

"...That was the end of us," Chloe said. "After Damon killed Sera, our time as Raven and Crow was over."

"What? But..." Max blinked. There were so many more questions that were left unanswered. "What happened to Damon Merrick? How did Rachel end up becoming Tempest?"

"Damon disappeared... he must've died in the fire. There's no way any normal person could've survived..." A flash of doubt crossed her eyes. "Although..."

"You think he could still be alive?" supposed Max.

"I sure as fuck hope not. That fucker belongs in a ditch six feet under. But that night, through the fire... I thought I saw..." Chloe shook her head. "Never mind. It was probably a hallucination due to smoke inhalation, or stress, but... no. Damon is dead. Raven burned him until there was nothing left of his sick, twisted empire."

_ Ah, _ thought Max.  _ If Damon's dead, then he can't be the one that's dealing Vortex... _ She mentally scratched him off of the list of suspects.

"What about Rachel?" Max wanted to know. "Obviously she survived."

"After Raven burned down the mill, the Heroes came to tidy up our mess, like they always did. They must've found her in the wreckage." Chloe looked troubled. "I didn't hear from her after that. I spent that time thinking she was dead, too... that is, until she showed up at our hideout again, a month later."

"That must've been a relief."

"It was. You have no idea," said Chloe. "It was like she'd come back from the grave. The first time I saw her again... it felt like a miracle." Then her face fell. "But... she wasn't the same."

"How come?"

"Rachel... she... told me that we couldn't be together anymore," Chloe said. "She said that she was joining the Heroes, and they were going to teach her how to control her powers, to use them for the greater good, so she could stop criminals like Damon and villains like Demonhead from hurting innocent people." Chloe shook her head. Her voice cracked as she spoke. "But, in order to do that... she couldn't see me any more. If she was gonna be a Hero, she had to leave everything else behind. It was— it was like losing her for a second time."

"I'm sorry," Max said.

"I miss her, Max," Chloe told her. She curled her knees up to her chest and shivered. "I hope she's okay."

Seeing her in distress, Max shuffled closer to her and draped part of the comforter around her. She accepted this eagerly, and scooted closer to Max so that their bodies were touching. Their shared warmth helped stave off the chill of the oncoming night. It reminded her of when they were kids, building blanket forts on Chloe's couch. Max felt a quiet thrill at the soft, warm touch of Chloe's tattooed arm against her own.

After a minute of silence, Chloe sighed. "So," she said. "Now you know everything. Geez, I haven't told this shit to anyone besides Rachel before. Lucky you."

"I do feel lucky," Max said, sincerely. "...Thanks for trusting me, Chloe. I think what you did was incredible."

"But... I didn't manage to get justice for Dad... all I managed to do was to lose my closest friend."

"You survived, didn't you?" said Max. "You built this home yourself. After all that you went through, you didn't give up." She pulled the blanket tighter around them both. "That's pretty amazing. I don't think just any person could have done that."

"I'm... glad you think so," Chloe said quietly. "And I'm happy you're here."

"Me, too." Max leaned into her. Pressed up as she was to the quiet warm rhythm of Chloe's breathing, the fatigue of the day finally caught up with her. If she closed her eyes, she could very fall asleep here.

Their moment of calm was interrupted by a sudden buzz of Chloe's cell phone, which made them both jump. "Sorry," Chloe apologized as she dug her phone out. "Who the fuck is calling me right now—"

As she held out the hand and the both of them stared at the display on the phone, a chill breeze blew through the shack. It was as though a ghost from the past had returned just to haunt them.

The caller ID read, _ Now Calling: Dogcatcher. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When writing this, I quickly realized I bit off more than I can chew, trying to cram an entire game's worth of backstory into a single extended flashback, which is why it took so long. Incorporating Sera into this canon also gave me somewhat of a headache. But I had a lot of fun writing scenes with Chloe and Rachel! Amberprice is nice.
> 
> Next chapter, it's back to the present and back to the mystery at hand!
> 
> Also, quick poll: I'm undecided on whether to change the name of the drug "Kronos" to "Vortex" instead, since I think it's more in line with canon. There's a story reason behind the current name, but it's kind of flimsy. What do you readers think?
> 
> Thanks as always for reading!


	10. Day Three - Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and Chloe hatch a plan to raid Dogcatcher's RV in order to unravel more of the mystery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And, we're back! Apologies for the long pause between updates, hope this chapter is worth the wait :)
> 
> Housekeeping: I've gone back and edited every chapter of this fic. The main change is that "Kronos" has now been replaced with "Vortex", because I think it fits better.  
> I've also tweaked dialogues and descriptions in some scenes, mostly in Chapter 1.  
> Also, I upped the rating of this fic, from T to M, for graphic violence mostly.

 

_"Price. This is Dogcatcher. I got another gig for you. Same client as earlier this week, and they're not gonna bail this time. I need you to meet me at noon tomorrow at the docks. Come alone, no funny business. Do this right and I'll cut you in like we discussed, fifty-fifty. It's a big gig, but you flake and I'm not gonna ask again. Be there."_

\- Frank Bowers, voice message left on Chloe Price's cell phone, 9:34 PM.

\---

A beam of sunlight shone across her face, awakening Max from her sleep. As she cracked open one eye, peering through the curtain of her bangs, she took a moment to re-orient herself. The place smelled of earth, rotting wood, and pine trees, not at all like her sterile studio apartment. The familiar whistle of the metro and the ambient roar of city traffic were nowhere to be heard. Instead, all she could hear was the sound of wind whooshing through trees, of birdsong and the cawing of crows. Most unfamiliarly, there was a warm presence at her back, which she felt shift and stir in response to her own subtle movements.

Her eyes opened wide, and she stared up at the corrugated metal ceiling of the junkyard hideout. By her side, curled up on her own half of the mattress, Chloe clutched at the tattered comforter, dragging it over herself. Max shivered as the blanket was pulled away, exposing her to the cool morning air.

She turned her head to look at Chloe, still asleep and cocooned in the thick blanket. Her brilliant blue hair spilled across the mattress, strands of it stuck to her chin and caught in the corner of her mouth.

Max felt a pressure in her chest, as though the warmth within was ready to spill out from between her ribs, and it took a minute for her to identify why she was feeling this way. As she looked upon Chloe's sleeping form, her hazy sleep-thoughts formed into a simple truth. _Chloe_. It had to be her. She'd become the center of Max's life from the minute they'd met up on that rooftop. Seeing her now, soft and vulnerable in the morning light, was causing feelings in Max that she hadn't felt for the longest time. This... protectiveness, this desire for closeness, the fear of losing her and willingness to use all her power to ensure Chloe's safety and happiness... was there a word for that feeling?

On impulse, Max reached out to smooth the sky-blue hair away from her sleeping face. At the touch of Max's fingertips, Chloe shifted. She extended her arms above her head, stretching and yawning, and opened her blue eyes. She rubbed at her sand-crusted eyes, still groggy from sleep, and said in a breathy voice, "Rachel?"

An icy dagger lanced between the warmth that was filling Max's ribs, but she only hesitated a moment. "No, silly, it's me," she said, voice soft.

"Oh," Chloe said sleepily. "Hey, Max."

"Hey yourself." Max pushed herself up on her elbows. She gazed down at Chloe fondly. "Blanket thief."

"Mmmm. M'not a thief. We're pirates, remember?"

"What kind of pirate steals from her first mate?" Max teased.

"A warm one," Chloe replied. Still, she held out the corner of the blanket that she'd stolen from Max. "Here, grouchy. You want?"

Max _did_ want to take it. She wanted to curl up under the covers again, to press her face against the back of Chloe's neck and breathe in the now-familiar scent of gasoline and sweat and citrus body wash. But as her thoughts caught up with the waking world, she realized they had already stayed asleep for far too long.

 _I could just do it for a minute and then rewind,_ she thought. Then she quickly decided against it. _I'd be taking that moment away from Chloe,_ she reasoned. It would be a purely selfish use of her power. Chloe was her partner and teammate now, and she didn't deserve to be left out of anything.

Instead, Max shook her head. She stretched, loosening out the cricks in her spine. Her muscles were still sore from all the unexpected physical activity they'd done the previous day, from breaking free of the Heroes' secret base to their breakneck getaway to the hideout in the junkyard. There was so much more they had to do today — so much more of the mystery before them left to unravel — that she feared they had already lingered too long.

She swung her legs off the mattress. "What time is it?" she asked?

Chloe pushed the blanket off herself as well and shrugged. "Hell if I know. Eight AM maybe? Nine?"

It was then that Max remembered she had left her cell phone on the opposite side of the room. She pushed herself to her feet and stood up, crossing the cardboard-covered floor to grab it from on top of the cinder block where it lay. She flipped it over and read the display, which told her it was 9:45 AM.

She read this out loud to Chloe, who swore under her breath in response.

"Shit. We really oughta get a move on," she said. "We've got a drug dealer's RV to raid, after all."

Nervousness twisted in Max's gut as she recalled the message that Dogcatcher had left on Chloe's phone the night before. Its timing was too convenient to ignore: the same client that had cancelled three days ago, presumably the same errand she was on when Max first encountered her on the rooftop, on the day that was erased from time. This was their chance to find out more about what had really happened on that day. Chloe was right; the only way they were going to get proof that Frank was dealing in Vortex and working with Nathan Prescott was if they dug up the dirt themselves. But then again, the two of them were most likely the only ones who _could_ uncover such a conspiracy, if it existed.

"About that..." she began. "Did you have a plan, or...?"

"Chillax, Super Max. Of course I got a plan," replied Chloe. She'd gotten out of bed and was in the process of getting dressed. As she lifted her sleep shirt over her head, exposing her midriff and shockingly well-defined abs, Max blushed and hid her face away. By the time she looked back at her friend, Chloe was dressed in her signature skull tank top. Her grin seemed wider than usual, which Max prayed wasn't because she'd noticed her staring.

"I — umm," Max stuttered. "It's just, how are you planning on sneaking into Dogcatcher's RV during broad daylight, right under his nose?" She still hadn't met the guy, but just hearing the name _Dogcatcher_ made Max uncomfortable. After what Chloe had told her last night about the gang members she used to fight as Crow, she was afraid of what the man was capable of. Even though he wasn't a Metahuman.

"Trust me, Max. Frank's into some shady shit, true, but he's nowhere on the same level as Damon." said Chloe. Her confident swagger felt at odds with the unease Max felt inside her own chest. "The plan is this: we show up, just like Frank asked us to. "

"Won't he be suspicious?" Max wondered. "I mean, he told you to come alone. If I show up along with you, he'll immediately know that something's up."

"I think you're forgetting something," Chloe said, a teasing lilt to her voice. "Max, you're a human time machine. You can just do to him what you did to Angel yesterday. Use your time-ninja skills to give him the slip and get inside the RV while I distract him."

"...Oh. Right!" Max said, feeling a bit silly. Of course. She could just sneak inside, rewind, and then search with practically all the time in the world.

"After you've got the proof you need, you'll escape from the RV and rewind again," Chloe said. "If it all works out, we can get away with the info without Frank ever knowing we were there." She drummed her fingers on the mattress between them. "...It's risky, but I gotta say, with your power Max it feels like we can do anything."

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," Max cautioned. "We should have, like... a code word, or secret signal, in case something goes wrong."

"Right, right. Hmm..." Chloe appeared pensive for a second. "How about 'pirate'? I'll say it extra-loud in my conversation with Frank so that you can hear it inside the RV in case shit goes south."

"That... works," Mad said, smiling slightly. "Of _course_ you'd pick that word."

"Well, that's who we are, right? The dread pirates of Arcadia Bay. Arrrr!" Chloe joked. Max felt a throb of nostalgia as she could see the cracks of the young Chloe she once knew underneath the rough punk exterior. "...Anyway, the minute you hear me say that, it means that you need to get the fuck out of there, through a window or something if you gotta. Then you'll just rewind back to the start and we'll make a break for it." She looked up at Max. "...You've got that much, uhh, time juice in you, right?"

Max opened and closed her fist. If she concentrated, she could almost feel the time power coursing beneath her skin. It was as though her powers had doubled in intensity overnight. She felt confident that she could rewind up to five minutes now, if she needed to. What was happening to her...?

Realizing that Chloe was expecting an answer from her, Max nodded. "Yeah. The length of time I can go back is increasing... at first it was only thirty seconds before I got dizzy and had to stop. Then it became a minute, and then two... now I'm up to about five minutes before I need to take a rest."

Chloe seemed to appear pensive. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out her graffiti pen. "Hold out your arm, Max," she said. "I'll draw you a map."

Max dutifully extended her arm — which still showed the smudged remnants of where Chloe had written her phone number the other night. It was difficult removing the permanent marker with soap and water, but she figured it was an occupational hazard of hanging out with Chloe. Her handwriting and illustrations decorated the inside of the junkyard hideout and her truck, too.

 _Guess that's how she marks her territory_ , thought Max, and then immediately suppressed that thought before she could follow it to its logical conclusion regarding herself. She felt the marker's felt tip glide across her skin.

Chloe drew a rectangle on Max's forearm. "Okay, so this is the RV from the top down," she said. "...And here's the door." She marked an X towards the front of the car. "You're going to want to search... here, here, and here," she said, drawing points on Max's arm. "That's his computer, his kitchen cabinet, and the vent in the back room where he keeps his stash. Those are the three most likely places he'll have his record book. Frank's a pretty meticulous guy, he always makes sure to collect on what people owe him." She re-capped her marker and kicked her feet up on the car dashboard. "'Cept for me, that is."

"Does he have a soft spot for you, or something?" Max asked.

"Yeah, right. I'm sure it's my winning personality," Chloe said sarcastically, "And not 'cause I'm his best runner and he needs to keep me in debt or anything."

"...Oh," Max said. "I see..."

"One other thing you're gonna wanna watch out for is Frank's dog, Pompidou," Chloe said.

" _Pompidou_? That sounds kinda like the name for a poodle."

"I know, right?" Chloe laughed, shaking her head. "...Nah. Pompidou's a pit bull... maybe. He's really a big puppy though, just like Frank. But in case he gives you trouble... here ya go," Chloe said, reaching into the glove compartment and pulling out a stick of jerky, which she handed to Max. "I'll try and distract Pompidou, too. But give him some jerky, and he'll leave you alone. Puppy goes nuts over teriyaki."

"All right..." Max said. This would be the first real, intentional use of her powers; not as a getaway tool or an emergency revive for Chloe. It felt like she was plunging into the deep end right away. Although, she _had_ been metaphorically treading water this entire week, and she'd managed to stay afloat so far.

 _Sink or swim,_ she thought.

"One last thing," said Chloe, as she reached across Max to pull something out from a box by the side of the bed. It was a cloth bandana with a bird skull on it, the same one she wore when Max first saw her in the underground train station. She folded the cloth in half so that only the beak showed on the outside, and then she tied it around the back of her head so her nose and mouth were covered. Then she reached into the area behind the bed and pulled out a black hoodie, which she threw on over her tank top. Suddenly, the blue-haired Chloe was gone, transformed into the androgynous, hooded punk who Max had pursued in the subway. All that was missing were the lights in her eyes.

"The Heroes probably have an all-points bulletin out on us, since we gave 'em the slip yesterday. So you'll wanna hide from their facial recognition drones," she said. "Their surveillance over the docks is pretty thin, but we can't be too careful. I for one am not getting tazered again."

She pulled out another strip of cloth from the glove box. It was plain black with two holes cut in it for eyes. "This should work — here, try it on." She handed it to Max.

"Uh... okay," Max said, accepting the black mask from Chloe. She positioned it across her face, then reached behind her head to tie it in a knot. She fluffed her hair out around it and blinked, adjusting to seeing through the eye holes cut in the fabric. She turned to face Chloe. "How do I look?"

"Like a bona-fide, genuine no-good lowlife. Just like me," Chloe said, grinning. "We'll come up with a nickname for you later. You ready to do this, Super Max?"

Max opened and closed her hand. Really, due to her powers, she should have no problem gathering some basic intel. She could always do-over if anything went wrong. Still, she couldn't help but feel a tangled knot of nervousness in her gut.

She ran fingers over the black case of her camera. _You can do this, Max,_ she thought. _You've got the power. You're gonna be the one who cracks this thing wide open._

"I'm ready," she said out loud.

"All right," Chloe said. "Let's move."

\---

The engine of Chloe's beat-up truck sputtered as they idled in an alleyway down by a run-down section of the dockyards. Max had spent nearly the entire ride checking over her shoulder to make sure they weren't followed by any cops or Heroes. They had made it back into the city without event, but that didn't stop Max's paranoia from going into overdrive. Being a wanted woman was taking its toll on her psyche. She didn't know how Chloe managed it, day after day.

Chloe killed the engine and stepped out onto the pavement. She motioned hastily for Max to follow behind her.

"Stay a ways back," she warned Max. "Let me do the talking."

Max nodded, and Chloe turned her back and disappeared around the corner. She counted to ten, watching Chloe's hoodie disappear into another alleyway, before following her as discreetly as she could. The eye mask, though it was meant to hide her identity from the drone cams, made her feel even more conspicuous than usual. She hugged the wall, keeping her head down, hoping to not draw the attention of any cars that passed on the road.

She reached the alleyway and looked around the corner. The alley opened out into a run-down parking lot that was situated in between several tall warehouse buildings. The place seemed mostly abandoned; a rusty NO TRESPASSING sign hung crookedly from the concrete walls. The surrounding warehouse walls were decorated with layer upon layer of fluorescent graffiti tags. On the far side of the parking lot, she spied another exit in the form of a narrow gap between two buildings. A thin strip of light shone through from the street on the other side. The lot was mostly empty, with only a few cars parked at odd angles on the cracked pavement.

Parked in a shadowy corner at the back of the lot was Dogcatcher's RV. It looked old — not quite old enough to rival Chloe's truck, but certainly subject to the wear and tear of years. Someone had vandalized it in black pen with the message _Hey Kids, Free Candy Inside_. Max had a sneaking suspicion that she knew who the vandal was.

Ahead of her, Chloe was crossing the open lot, headed straight for the RV. She approached its side and hammered on the door with her fist.

After a few seconds, the door to the RV slid open, and a man stuck his head out from the gap. This person, Max deduced, had to be the man that called himself Dogcatcher. He looked less like a drug lord and more like an ex-hippie from a bygone era. He wore a scraggly beard and a t-shirt depicting a New Arcadia high school sports mascot. He looked at Chloe standing before him and narrowed his eyes.

"You're early," he said, eyeing her suspiciously.

Chloe leaned against the side of the RV, nonchalant. "Yeah, well, I couldn't resist the chance to see my main man Frank again, after you canceled on me three days ago."

"Cut the crap, Price," said Frank. "We've been over this. I told you to call me Dogcatcher."

"Sure thing, Dogman," Chloe said, rolling her eyes. "I'll call you by your wannabe Hero name, if it helps your little role play fantasy thing."

"It's _Dogcatcher_ ," Frank insisted. "And it's a code name, because I like to keep things discreet. You still haven't told me why you're here an hour earlier than we planned."

"Is it so bad that I wanted to get a head start? I got shit to do later today. But I'm always gonna put in the time to see my favorite Dog boss." She peered around him and into the RV. "Where's Pompidou?"

"Pompidou's sleeping. And this isn't like you to show up early," Frank said.

"Yeah, well, maybe I've decided I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm ready to put in a hundred and ten percent." Chloe took a step back from the doorway and crossed her arms. "Actually, I came early 'cause I got ahold of some intel that might interest you. It's about Vort—"

"—Shhh!" Frank stepped down from the entrance of the RV and lunged forward to get right up in Chloe's face. "Are you retarded?! Keep that shit quiet! I swear to fucking Christ you are the least discreet runner I know."

"I can keep my mouth shut where it matters," Chloe said. "And chillax, Paranoid Pete. Nobody's listening in. I already checked the perimeter, as my step-ass would say."

Frank stepped back up on the first stair to the RV. "If you got private shit to discuss, we can do it in here."

"Hell no," said Chloe, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "That RV is filthy, I'm not stepping in there again. It smells like dog and canned beans in there."

Frank shifted on his feet. "You got a problem with my RV?"

"Nah, man, I'm just saying, what is it with you and beans? I don't think I've ever seen you eat anything other than beans and teriyaki jerky. Which I'm pretty sure is supposed to be dog food," she said.

"You used to live in a literal dump," Frank pointed out.

"Yeah? At least it didn't smell like sweaty bachelor mixed with wet dog."

Frank was beginning to look really annoyed. "Price. If you don't shut the fuck up and quit wasting my time, then the whole deal's off. I'll find another runner."

"What, and miss out on my charming wit and personality? You won't get the same experience from anyone else."

"Damn right I won't. I'll get someone who does the damn job _without_ givin' me shit over how I choose to live my life."

"Okay, all right, fine." Chloe held her hands up in mock submission. "I'll tell you what I know. But seriously — I'm not setting foot in that RV. Don't wanna get abducted and turned into canned beans myself."

Frank stepped down from the RV again. "If you're wasting my fuckin' time..." For the first time, Max noticed the dark metallic shape of a pistol hanging at Frank's hip.

"I'm not, I promise. It's gotta do with the Heroes... and with you-know-what. See, a little birdie told me the Heroes are cottoning to the fact that someone's figured out a way to make them not-so-special anymore..."

Frank leaned over Chloe. "Details. _Now._ "

"Jeez, even your breath smells like beans. Good thing I have this mask on." She beckoned him over to the side of the RV. As they moved, she cast a glance over to the entrance of the alleyway where Max was hidden, and jerked her neck to one side as if signaling that she should get a move on.

At Chloe's signal, Max abandoned her hiding place and headed into the alleyway, clinging to the side of the wall that was most obscured by shadows. She saw a car that was parked close to the entrance of the lot where she could duck behind and obscure Frank's line-of-sight, in case he got any ideas about using that pistol on her.

As she sprinted the short distance from one hiding place to the other, though, Frank's head jerked up. "Who's there?" He barked, hand immediately jumping to his pistol. "I saw someone moving just now. We aren't alone."

"Chill, dude. It's probably just a stray cat or something," Chloe said, but Frank ignored her as he strode towards Max's hiding spot, pulling his pistol out of its holster.

 _Crap,_ Max thought. _I can't afford to let him see me._ She held out her right hand and rewound time. Frank returned to his position beside the RV. From his and Chloe's perspective, Max had apparently teleported from one location to the other.

"Jeeze, even your breath smells like beans," Chloe was saying. Frank appeared blissfully unaware of Max's position behind the car. _This is gonna work_ , she told herself in an attempt to calm the hammering in her chest. From her hiding place, she would only need to do this dash-rewind two more times: once to get in a position closer to the RV, and again in order to actually get inside.

She took a deep breath and sprinted across the lot towards the car parked closest to the camper. Frank spun around to face her once again. "Shit!! We're not alone," he said, brandishing his pistol. "I thought you said you checked and made sure you weren't followed!"

Max flattened her back against the truck and breathed heavily as she rewound time again. Now, she only needed to make it inside the RV, and then she would be home free... in theory. She peered around the corner, just in time to see Chloe leading Frank away from the entrance to the RV with the promise of intriguing gossip about the Heroes.

The door to the RV hung open, invitingly. _I just need to get inside,_ she thought. As Frank turned his back on her, she thought, _Now's my chance!_ and stepped out from behind the car, sneakers scraping against concrete as she dashed towards the open door. She nearly made it when suddenly she felt a hand seize her upper arm.

"The fuck d'you think you're doing, girlie," growled Dogcatcher, who had reacted with surprising speed and captured Max's arm in a powerful grip. His dark eyes glared at her. "Thought I smelled a rat. You know what dogs do to rats, right?" He twisted Max's arm painfully, dirty fingernails digging into her skin. Max struggled to pull herself out of his grip but was held fast.

"Get your hands off her, you creep!" shouted Chloe, who came charging in from the side. Before Frank had time to react, she barreled into him in a tackle, shoulder-first. Frank was larger than Chloe, but the tackle knocked him off-balance enough that his grip loosened on Max's arm. "Go, Max!"

Max didn't need any further prompting. Taking advantage of Frank's disorientation, she pulled herself free of his grasp and sprinted up the stairs and into the RV. She scanned the area for a place to hide and spotted a hollow underneath the computer desk, where she ducked inside, trying to make herself look as small and inconspicuous as possible.

Outside, she could hear Frank yelling in rage. "You double-crossed me! You'll regret this, Price," she heard him say, along with the distinctive _click_ of the safety being taken off the pistol. The loud BANG of a gunshot echoed across the empty parking lot, along with a shriek from Chloe. Max's head was spinning and her chest heaving as her breaths came faster and faster. _He just shot her_! Max couldn't let that happen.

Holding out her right hand, she rewound time until everything around her blurred and red spots started to appear around the edges of her vision.

When she came to, blinking away the haze and the headache that came from turning back time, she realized there was a presence in the RV with her. Frank was seated in the front seat before the wheel, sparking up a joint. _Crap,_ she thought. _I went too far back! If he sees me like this, Chloe and I are screwed!_

Fortunately, just then she heard someone hammering on the front door of the RV. From the driver's seat, Frank swore and stubbed out his joint before getting up and descending towards the door. Max felt a wave of reassurance as she heard Chloe's sarcastic voice coming from outside the camper. Frank and Chloe went through the same back-and forth Max had heard before, until finally, Chloe convinced him to step outside the RV. As the door closed shut behind Frank, Max let out the breath she was holding in a sigh of relief.

She got up from her hiding spot underneath the computer desk. True to Chloe's criticism, the interior of the RV smelled like a combination of sweat, beans, weed, and dog. A teetering stack of unwashed dishes was piled high in the sink. Posters of pin-up girls decorated the kitchen cabinets. Max noted that one of the posters depicted Tempest, wearing one of her racier costumes, smiling coyly from behind her horned mask. Whether in costume or out, she had a model's good looks. She wondered whether Frank knew what Chloe did about Tempest's true identity. _Probably not_ , she supposed.

Time was wasting, so Max glanced down at the map that Chloe had drawn on her arm. There was an X drawn over Frank's computer, so that was where she should check first. Outside, she heard Chloe and Frank continue their conversation, Chloe laying down mild insults and stalling for time. That meant Max needed to make the most of what little time was afforded to her before Frank started to get suspicious again.

She tapped the screen of the computer, awakening it from sleep mode. The screen displayed a web browser with online shopping results. _Are these dog treats for Pompidou, or for Frank?_ Max wondered as she minimized that window and called up Frank's e-mail. Between newsletters and online shopping alerts, she located a chain of correspondence that she deduced was between Dogcatcher and one of his business partners:

 

_From: D M (dm@jmail.to):_

_Re: deadline_

_Need that 10k by tonight. What's taking so long._

_\--_

_From: Dogcatcher (dogcatcher134@icemail.net):_

_Re: Re: deadline_

_Working on it. Got what you asked ready and waiting. Best runner on the job._

_\--_

_From: D M (dm@jmail.to):_

_Re: Re: Re: deadline_

_You'd better be serious. I won't tolerate any more delays._

_\--_

_From: Dogcatcher (dogcatcher134@icemail.net)_

_Re: Re: Re: Re: deadline_

_I won't let you down man._

 

Max studied the contents of the brief email exchange. This 'DM' person seemed to be demanding payment from Dogcatcher, ten thousand dollars if she was reading it right. Dogcatcher was promising to deliver, and by "his best runner" Max assumed he meant Chloe. She wondered who Dogcatcher could possibly owe ten thousand dollars to. _Either he's in debt as much as Chloe is, or..._ she scanned the body of the messages again. Could "DM" be the person supplying Dogcatcher with his drugs? That seemed like the most logical explanation given the tone of their exchange.

She raised her camera to her eye and pointed it at the computer screen. She snapped a few photographs, capturing the entire email chain, when she heard a growl coming from within the trailer.

A chill ran up her spine. _Crap,_ she thought, as she slowly turned to look at the source of the noise. Standing in the doorway that led to the room in the back of the RV was the muscular, sharp-eyed silhouette of Pompidou, Frank's pit bull. The dog glared at her, its gums curled back in a snarl, baring sharp-looking teeth.

"N-nice... puppy..." Max said, stepping away from the computer without making any sudden moves. Pompidou took a step towards her, growling more loudly. She glanced over towards the door, but she could still hear Chloe and Frank's conversation continuing outside without interruption. Reaching inside her sweatshirt pocket, she pulled out the bag of teriyaki jerky. She held it out at arm's length. "You want a treat?" she said, swinging the bag back and forth and noticing how the dog's attention snapped to it and bits of drool began to drip from its mouth.

"Go fetch," Max said, tossing the bag of treats over Pompidou, into the back room. The dog's head turned towards the bag of jerky, and for a second Max thought she was home free. Then the dog turned back towards her and continued its advance, baring its teeth at Max.

"Shit," she said as the dog began barking, a deep booming sound that reverberated through the camper. Outside, the conversation between Frank and Chloe stopped.

"Goddamn it, what's gotten into that dog?" Max heard Frank say.

"It's probably nothing, dude," Chloe said. "Sometimes dogs bark at their own shadows, ya know?"

Frank banged on the side of the camper. "Shut the fuck up, Pompidou!"

Inside the camper, Max was slowly taking steps backwards as the pit bull advanced on her. _It's no good,_ she thought desperately. _It's only a matter of time before Dogcatcher opens that door, or..._

Suddenly, the taut muscles on Pompidou's back shifted as the dog launched itself forward, sharp teeth bared and aiming for Max's leg. Just seconds before its jaws could close around her ankle, Max held out her hand and rewound time, watching the dog move backwards through the body of the RV and into the back room. She waited until the dog was curled up in its bed, seemingly asleep, then slid the dividing door shut, trapping Pompidou in the back room.

She breathed a sigh and slid down to the floor, her back against the divider. Her head was pounding and she felt a piercing pain in her temple. _Now would be a pretty bad time to hit my limit,_ she thought.

Max straightened up. The headache was still there, but she couldn't afford to dwell on it; she needed to keep moving. She still hadn't found exactly what she was looking for: not Vortex, nor anything having to do with Nathan Prescott. Chloe had said to find Frank's record book, hadn't she?

According to the map that was drawn on her forearm, the next place that Max should look was the kitchen cabinets. The first cabinet she opened was entirely filled with canned beans. _Chloe wasn't kidding. Dude really likes his beans..._ Max thought. It wasn't likely he was hiding drugs in there, though, so she checked the cabinets on the other side. They similarly yielded little of substance, other than a few dime bags of weed and a post-it note with a phone number scrawled on it. _Probably not important_ , she thought, but she raised her camera and photographed it anyway.

The final cabinet she had to check was the one above the stack of dirty plates in the sink. She opened it and saw a notebook sitting on the top shelf. _That looks promising_ , she thought, reaching for it. Unfortunately, the tips of her fingers came up several inches shy of reaching it, even when she stood on her tiptoes. _Curse you, short person genes._

A cursory glance around the RV showed no furniture she could easily use to boost herself up on. This called for some creative thinking. There was only a few inches of available surface area on the countertop that weren't taken up by dirty dishes, but through some clever balancing, she could put her knee on top of it and pull herself up long enough to grab the notebook from the highest shelf. Bracing herself against the small platform, she grabbed ahold of the side of the cabinet and hauled her body upwards. The tips of her fingers touched the surface of the notebook.

 _Yes!!_ She thought to herself, pulling the notebook out from the cupboard. She felt an unpleasant lurch as her knee started to slip from the countertop. Her fingers closed around the spine of the book as she began to wobble, her center of gravity pitching sideways. Her knee slid from the countertop, knocking the dishes with it, until her body and half the dishes in the sink fell to the floor with a resounding CRASH.

Max lay on the floor surrounded by shards of porcelain, dazed, when the door to the RV banged open. She found herself looking up at Dogcatcher, and just past him she spotted Chloe's alarmed face.

"What the— how the fuck did you get in my RV?!" he growled, reaching for his pistol. Max held out her right hand in response as Frank pointed the barrel of the gun at her. She turned back time just as he began to squeeze the trigger, rewinding all the way back to before she opened the door to the cabinet. Then she lay on the floor, breathing heavily. _That was... way too close,_ she thought.

She looked down at her left hand. Her fingers were still closed around the spine of the notebook — it hadn't returned to its original position after the rewind. _It's just like my clothes and my camera,_ she thought. It seemed like she could take small inanimate objects back with her as long as they were on her person at the time.

She opened the notebook and looked at the first page. Per Chloe's description, she was expecting it to be a ledger of sorts, documenting Frank's transactions with his clients. Disappointment filled her as instead she saw that this notebook was filled with pages and pages of handwriting. _Is this Frank's... diary?_ She wondered. She scanned the pages of the diary. Most entries were brief: " _5/4. Got wasted with SB on the docks. Had to run from the fuzz but gave em the slip. Long as no Heroes show up we can always ditch em._ " Taken all together, they read as a chronicle of a man who lived his life on the borders of the law. He was often vague in his descriptions, never using more than two initials to describe someone's name. With no specific addresses either, there was little of substance she could find, and no mention of Nathan Prescott or Vortex at all.

She flipped to the most recent entry, dated 3 days ago. It read;

_DM called - No fight today. Called off my prize dog. Good money in that but I'll just take up the next one I guess. It'll be cool to see her tear some throats out._

Max frowned. Frank was making money through betting on dog fights? That sounded shady as hell... not to mention cruel to the animal. _What kind of sick bastard enjoys that,_ she thought, feeling queasy as she did. One detail stood out to her: Frank referred to his prize dog as "her". Wasn't Pompidou male? She recalled just minutes ago when the dog had lunged towards her. _Yep, definitely male. Maybe he has more dogs he keeps somewhere else...?_

She was wasting time reading through this; Chloe could only stall with Frank for so long. She held up her camera and took a rapid series of photographs of every page that seemed remotely relevant. As she finished up, she heard Chloe raise her voice from outside the truck.

"Doesn't doing this ever make you feel like a _pirate_ ?" she said, enunciating the final word. That sent off alarm bells in Max's head. _That's our panic button,_ she recalled.

"What the fuck're you on about, Price," Frank said. "This has been a huge fuckin' waste of time. Come back in an hour, and don't bother me before then, got it?"

The handle on the RV door began to turn, and for a moment Max was paralyzed. Then she realized what she needed to do, and rewound time about a minute. The resulting dizzy spell forced her to lean her head against the cabinet and wait for her vision to clear. _This is... probably really bad for me,_ she reflected. After the spots vanished from her eyes, she placed the diary on the kitchen counter and faced the rear of the RV.

The map on her arm told her that she had one location left to check: the vent in Frank's bedroom. Problem was, Pompidou was still in there, behind a closed door. She reached into her pocket and found the teriyaki jerky had returned there after her rewind. _If I'm gonna make this work... I'll only have one shot,_ she thought. She readied the bag of treats and placed her hand on the sliding door. She took a deep breath and slid the door open.

Immediately, the dog came bursting through, issuing a deep, reverberating bark and baring its teeth. Max held out the bag of jerky in front of her and then tossed it towards the front of the RV. Pompidou lunged after the meat, flecks of drool hitting the metal floor of the RV. That gave her enough time to duck inside the bedroom and slide the door shut.

Deep, loud barks and the sound of claws scraping against the door echoed throughout the RV. With the amount of noise Pompidou was making, it was only a matter of time before Frank checked back inside the RV again. She needed to find this ledger, and fast.

The bedroom in back was just as much a mess as the rest of the RV. Lewd posters decorated the walls while an un-made futon that was lying on the floor seemed to serve as a bed for both dog and man. A low table by the bedside held some weed in a glass jar, a sharp-looking pocket knife and several bottles of pills. These Max examined more closely, using the zoom function of her camera to get a closer look at their labels.

 _I don't think these are Vortex... are they?_ She wondered as she scanned the labels. Vortex wasn't the sort of drug you could get in a pharmacy... although she doubted any of these were prescription meds. At least, not Frank's prescription. She snapped a photo of the pills on the countertop, then winced as she heard Pompidou fling his body against the bedroom door, causing the walls to shudder.

 _Gotta move, gotta move,_ Max thought. There were more cabinets up above... she didn't have time to search them all though. She saw the dog's paws clawing underneath the gap in the door. _Where is that vent...?_ She wondered, scanning the room.

Finally, she laid eyes on her prize: an ankle-height metal grate, held in place with two screws. _Bingo,_ she thought, kneeling down to try and remove the grate. When it wouldn't come off on its own, she picked up the knife off the side table and used it to remove the screws which were holding the grate in place. As she lifted it clear from the vent, she spied what she'd been looking for: a pocket-sized notebook, spiral-bound, and several plastic baggies filled with pills.

Max immediately held up her camera and snapped a photograph. Then she grabbed the spiral notebook with shaky hands and flipped it open. Each page showed a list of names and dollar amounts, some of which had been crossed off. _Border Collie — $140. Pekingese — $300. Husky — $425._ Some of the dog breeds repeated themselves over and over again, stacking up a pretty staggering amount of debt in the process.

Max remembered how Chloe had said that Dogcatcher kept meticulous records of all his dealings with clients and how much each of them owed. If that was what this was, then based on the kinds of numbers documented in this book, Frank was pulling some serious dough pushing pills. Each entry was denoted by a symbol of a letter inside of a shape, presumably to indicate what type of drug was sold. But which of these pills was Vortex, and who were all these dog breeds supposed to be? Since she wasn't Frank herself, she had no real way to parse what was written in the notebook. Nor did she have any time.

She flipped through the pages of the notebook, growing more and more nervous as she did. _No, no, there has got to be something..._ she thought, panic rising in her chest. She turned the page and suddenly instead of dog's names there was a list of locations. _Bingo_ , she thought. She compared the most recent entries. _Rott at UG 2316, 16MG, $1500..._ _Wonder if Chloe will be able to make any more sense of this than I can._

She dutifully photographed every page she thought would be relevant. The notebook was not very long and was presumably Frank would destroy it once he collected on all his debts. Max wasn't interested in turning Frank over to the police, though. There was a greater mystery at play here — and whatever was written in this notebook was most likely the key.

As she was photographing the last page of the notebook, she heard the front door of the RV slam open. Fear gripped her as Frank's heavy footsteps sounded up the stairs. _Shit. Shit shit shit,_ Max thought, and scanned the RV for any possible sources of egress besides the front door. The rear window had a latch on it that prevented it from opening more than a few inches... although, maybe...

"The fuck's gotten into you, Pompidou?" came Frank's voice. "What're you losing your shit over—" Frank fell silent, and Max exhaled a shaky breath. "Something's not right..."

 _Crap!_ She needed to move. Without thinking, she stuffed the log book into her bag. Taking the pocketknife, she unscrewed the metal latch that was holding the window in place. With a thump from her elbow, it swung free and outwards. It was going to be a tight squeeze getting through, but fitting into tight spaces was quickly becoming Max's specialty. She swung a leg up and out the window and was lowering herself out the back hatch when the door to the bedroom slid open.

"What the— Who th'fuck are you?" growled Dogcatcher in confusion and rage. "What're you doing in my room?!"

"Uhh- nobodyandnothing _BYE_!" said Max as she dropped her body down from the back window onto the concrete below. In seconds, Chloe was by her side. Relief swept over Max like a wave as soon as she saw her face again.

"Max! You gotta rewind," Chloe said immediately. "Frank is gonna come after you!"

Max nodded and held out her hand. Immediately spots populated her vision and a wave of dizziness and nausea passed over her. It was as though the flow of time, which was normally so fluid in her grasp, had solidified into rubber. The more she tried, the more the ache in her head grew. A few drops of blood dripped from her nose onto the concrete.

"It's — no use," she said. "I used up all my Rewind in there. I'm out of time."

"All right, time for Plan B — RUN!!" said Chloe, grabbing Max's hand and pulling her along beside her. As they sprinted across the empty lot Frank poked his head out the back of the RV.

"PRICE!!" he shouted, his gravelly voice echoing throughout the abandoned lot. "You tricked me! You're fuckin' dead when I catch you, you hear me?"

Chloe, never one to resist a chance to taunt someone, shouted back over her shoulder, "Yeah dude, good luck catching your fastest runner!" before ducking into the narrow passageway between two warehouse buildings on the edge of the parking lot.

The space looked almost too narrow for a person to fit through, but Chloe slipped in with ease, pulling Max along behind her. The two of them sprinted down the passage, when Max heard deep booming barks and the sound of claws scraping on concrete coming up from behind them. Frank had set Pompidou after them.

Up ahead, she saw a seven-foot-tall sliding metal gate that was blocking off foot traffic through the alleyway. With the wall before them and the dog at their heels, there seemed nowhere for them to go. Dread filled the pit of Max's stomach as she realized they were trapped, with no Rewind and nobody else coming to rescue them. This story was going to end with her dying in an alley, mauled by a vicious dog.

"Hey, up here," came Chloe's voice from up above. Max looked at her; she'd braced herself between the walls and parkoured up on top of the tall gate. She extended a hand down towards Max, grabbing her above the wrist. Using her considerable physical strength, she pulled Max up atop the gate beside her, bracing against one of the outer walls for support.

Down at its base, Pompidou scratched and howled, but the dog could no longer reach them.  Chloe looked down at Pompidou and shook her head. "Bad puppy," she scolded. "No more teriyaki for you." She looked over towards Max. "C'mon, we gotta get outta here before Frank catches us."

"Yeah..." Max agreed, and the two of them jumped down the other side of the gate and ran down the length of the alley and out the other side. Max blinked as they emerged from the shadowy alleyway into a wide open street filled with the sounds of rushing traffic— they had stepped out onto a major thoroughfare. But before she could regain her bearings, Chloe had grabbed her hand again and was pulling her along further down the road.

"We gotta keep moving to make sure we lose him," Chloe told her as they weaved in between pedestrians on the sidewalk. "Runner's rule number one: never stop moving for long. You never know who or where someone could be tailing you."

"You think they're still following us?" Max asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him. Frank takes this shit seriously," Chloe said. She waited for a gap in the traffic and then jaywalked diagonally across the street. They ducked into another alleyway which zig-zagged and then opened out into a residential side street. Max allowed Chloe to pull her along, as the other woman seemed to know exactly where she was going, as though she knew every street corner by heart. Chloe went around to the side of one of the apartment buildings, which bore a fire escape. As she set foot on the first step of the metal stairs, a feeling of deja vu passed over Max.

"We're going up there?"

"Yep," said Chloe, pulling Max along behind her. "Runner's rule number two: Always do what they don't expect. And people hardly ever think to look up."

 _I was able to catch you that day,_ Max recalled as they reached the top landing. By standing atop an AC unit that was sticking out the window, Chloe was able to pull herself up over the edge of the flat roof. She extended an arm down towards Max and helped her up beside her.

Both women breathed simultaneous sighs of relief. For a few seconds, Max just lay there on the filthy roof as her vision swam before her eyes. The morning sun dipped behind a cloud and her nostrils were assaulted by the smells of brine and fish from the docks. Off in the distance, shipping boats drifted diligently across the churning waters  of the Arcadia Bay.

 _That was... intense as all hell._ She turned her head to the side to look at Chloe and caught the other woman looking back at her. After a moment, Chloe burst into laughter.

"What — what's so funny?" Max asked.

"Hahaha— it's just— I never imagined something like this could ever happen," she said. "Teaming up with Super Max to do a raid on my drug dealer... it's totally insane!"

"Definitely out there. It's like we were actual pirates," agreed Max.

"Hell yeah! Max and Chloe, back in action, causing mayhem on Arcadia Bay," Chloe agreed. She slapped a palm across her forehead. "Ughh, I'm totally on Frank's shit-list now... if I wasn't already, that is."

"Yeah... sorry I couldn't rewind to the start, like we planned," Max said. "Then he wouldn't have known we were even there."

"Max, are you kidding? You're totally awesome. I didn't even see you enter the RV," Chloe said. "Don't worry that the plan didn't work out exactly how we thought.  I've been meaning to break off my arrangement with Frank for a while anyway." She propped herself up on her elbow and leaned towards Max. "So, did you get the stuff? You didn't happen to nick any of his weed for me while you were there, did ya?"

Max shook her head. "Nope, sorry... but here's what I found." She laid out what she had taken from the RV: the log book, the pocket knife, a baggie filled with white pills, and her camera. This she picked up, and began flipping through the recent photographs. Although some of these pictures had been taken before a rewind, she found all photographs intact and present on her SD card, irrespective of the alterations she made in time. _Maybe because I carry the camera with me all the time, it's not affected by any changes I make since it's going back in time with me, too_.

Chloe examined the little notebook. "Yup, this is Frank's log book, all right," she confirmed.

"It looks like it's written in some sorta code..." Max said. "I can't really make sense of it."

"Yeah, Frank does that," Chloe said. "He calls each customer by a different codename. Dude's obsessed like that."

"Do you know which dog corresponds to which person?" Max asked. _Specifically, which of them is Nathan Prescott..._

Chloe shook her head. "He doesn't share that kinda info with me... though some of this looks familiar." She flipped through the pages of the book. "Yup, totals on debts owed. Wonder which one's mine...?"

"Right, you said you owed him money, didn't you?"

"Hey, a girl's gotta get by somehow," Chloe said. "Back when I moved out of the junkyard, I had to come up with cash for the deposit on my apartment... so I had Frank spot me some of it. Been working for him on and off over the past year to pay it off..."

"That explains why you were willing to take missions from him even after you got your job at the cafe."

"Yeah. Plus, I mean..." she looked a little guilty. "Honestly? It was kinda exciting. Part of me missed that thrill, ya know? Working as a barista doesn't get that same sorta rush."

"Because of the danger?"

"Because I was good at it." She paused, and then changed the subject, "I should still have about two hundred left to repay him. Let's see..." She scanned the list of dog names. "Ah-ha! This should be it," she said, pointing to an entry on the list.

 _Bulldog -_ _800_ _620_ _405_ _225_

"I borrowed eight hundred from him to start," Chloe explained, "and I paid him off two times so far, with just about two hundred to go. So this must be it. Heh, 'Bulldog'. Sweet."

"Focus, Chloe," Max reminded her. "We're looking for dirt on Nathan Prescott. If you have any idea what kinda codename Frank used for him, now would be the time."

"Well..." Chloe looked thoughtful. "Nathan's family is loaded, and he's got that Hero money, too. So if he's buying drugs from Frank, he's probably one of the biggest spenders."

Max frowned as she flipped through the pages of the book. _Shepherd, Husky, Rott..._ none of this made any sense to her. Without some kind of key, Frank's code as it was written was incomprehensible to her.

Chloe seemed to sense her frustration. "Hey, Max, don't sweat it. There's gotta be something else here that'll help us figure this shit out." She picked up the butterfly knife. "Hey, sweet find!"

"I used it to break out of the back window," Max said, feeling a sort of pride.

"Look at MaxGuyver over here!" Chloe said, grinning. Then her eyes fell on the bag of white pills. "Hmm. These are..."

"They were in the vent along with the log book," Max explained. "Is it Vortex?"

Chloe frowned. She opened the bag and took out one of the pills, scrutinizing it closely. After a moment she gave a disappointed sigh. "...Nah," she said. "These are painkillers. Happy pills, ya know? I wouldn't try them, if I were you. Not unless you wanna get knocked outta commission for about half a day."

 _Half a day..._ Max thought back to her missing memories. _Could I have been drugged during that time?_

"I also found something else interesting," Max said. She flipped through her camera roll to the photos she'd taken of Frank's diary. "In the kitchen cabinet. Frank had this diary," she said. "I skimmed it, and took photos of all the pages. Maybe there are some clues in there."

Chloe raised her eyebrows. "Frank keeps a diary, huh? Wonder what he puts in there. Lists of girls he'll never get with, maybe?"

"It's more like a list of places he's gotten high at," Max said. "There was one entry that looked kinda interesting though." She called up an entry from about a month ago, holding it out for Chloe to read:

_Got invited to the ring today. Made two G's betting on the little guy. Some real fucked up shit but the money is real. DM says if I bring my own I'll make four G guaranteed plus ten percent of house winnings. I think I know the right bitch for the job, too._

Chloe looked at it closely. A frown developed on her face. "Dogfighting? That... can't be right," she said.

"How come?" Max tilted her head. "Seems up his alley. He's got a dog and everything."

"Yeah, but..." Chloe chewed her lip. "Frank's a huge animal lover. He actually rescued that dog from a fighting ring. He'd never get on board with hurting dogs like that."

"Are you sure? Look at what it says. ' _I think I know the right bitch for the job..._ ' What else could he be talking about other than dog fights?"

"Well... it can't be Pompidou. He's a male dog," Chloe said. "And Frank would never put him in the ring. He loves that dog more than any person ever."

"Does he have any other dogs, then?"

"Nah, just the one. I mean, dude lives in an RV. Where the hell would he keep it?" Chloe shook her head. "I can't shake the feeling that this is about something other than dogs..."

"Let's see if there are any other days where he talks about it," Max said, flipping backwards through the pages of the journal on her camera. "Here's one — from just two days ago."

_DM called - No fight today. Called off my prize dog. Good money in that but I'll just take up the next one I guess. It'll be cool to see her tear some throats out._

"Gross," said Chloe. "But... I still don't think he'd ever bet on dog fights."

"That's... weird, then, for sure," Max agreed. "I wonder who this DM guy is... I think he's the one who supplies Frank with his drugs, too. Actually, there was an e-mail from him on Frank's computer..." She flipped to the photograph she'd taken of the email conversation between Frank and DM. "Looks like Frank owes him a lot of money."

Chloe's eyes suddenly widened. She took the camera from Max and studied the contents of the e-mail exchange closely. "No... it's not possible..."

"What's up?"

"Can't be... he's... he's supposed to be dead!" She was starting to look incredibly freaked out.

"Who are you talking about?" Max asked her.

Chloe glanced around them then, as though checking for anyone following them. She leaned in towards Max and dropped her voice down low. _"Damon Merrick,"_ she growled.

"Are you sure?" Max felt her fear now. After everything she had learned about Damon... if he were still out there, then New Arcadia City was in trouble. "Couldn't it be a — a different person with the same initials?"

"There's only one person I can think of whose initials are DM and who knows Frank. And based on the tone of those emails... that's definitely him." Chloe grimaced and spat on the floor. "That bastard... I should've known. The night of the sawmill fire, I saw something moving through the smoke. I thought it was just a — a hallucination, or a nightmare. But it wasn't — I saw him. I saw Demonhead."

Max gasped. "The Villain who killed your dad?"

Chloe nodded. "He must've been working for Damon that night. I'll bet he pulled him out of the fire."

"So they're both alive? And they're here in the city?"

"I... I think so," Chloe said. Her breath was coming faster and faster now. "Max... this is huge. If Damon is back... at the same time that Rachel disappeared... there's no way that's a coincidence." She looked up at Max, her eyes wide with epiphany. "This is it! I know where Rachel went!"

"You... you do?" Max blinked at her, confused.

"Yeah," Chloe said. "Damon... he... he murdered Rachel's mom right in front of her. As long as Rachel lives, she'll never let Damon get away with what he's done." She shook her head. "But now that she's a Hero... now that she's Tempest, she has to follow the Hero Association's rules. And one of those rules is not to use powers for personal reasons... only to protect the city."

"So, you think Rachel deserted the Hero Association to take revenge on Damon?"

"That's gotta be it," Chloe said, nodding. "She must've found out he was alive... and she knew that that Her Royal Bitchiness would forbid her from chasing him down if she knew." Chloe's eyes were alight with excitement. "Rach and I have plenty of experience dodging the Hero Association's surveillance. And since she has insider intel now, she must know way more about how to slip under their radar. That's how come they haven't been able to find her."

"That... makes sense, actually," said Max.

Chloe's expression looked hopeful, for once. "I can't believe it's so simple. We find Damon... and we'll find Rachel, too."

Max looked over at her. As excited as Chloe was, Max couldn't shake her own gut feeling that there was more going on here. They hadn't come across anything so far that would explain Nathan Prescott's involvement, nor any link to Vortex. But she didn't want to deflate Chloe's hopes of finding her friend.

"Let's see if there are any more clues that might lead us to him," Max said. She opened Frank's log book again and flipped through the pages once more. As she got towards the end, she held it up to Chloe and pointed to the last, crossed-off entry. "Look, here's something dated from three days ago... that's the same date as the last journal entry that mentions Damon. It says here... _Rott at UG 2316, 16MG_. Chloe, do you understand any of this?"

Chloe took the book from Max. As she did, her eyes widened and she nodded.

"Hey... hey, yeah! I know what this is," she said. "Us runners... we use code numbers to refer to certain locations in the city. It's two numbers that correspond to the street address. So it's the 23rd street and 16th Avenue... that would mean..." she pulled out her phone and called up a map of New Arcadia. Scrolling with one finger, she counted 23 streets down and 16 streets across. As she landed on the location, Max recognized it from the satellite photograph.

"That's... Hawthorne Park!" she said with a gasp. It was the same location she'd been on the day her powers had awakened. The place where Tempest and the unnamed villain had fought their duel. Where she'd chased Chloe out of the train station, up the fire escape, and all the way to their fateful confrontation on the roof.

"What's so special about that?" Chloe wondered.

"That was where I saw you on that first day. I saw Tempest and that weird Villain there, too." Max thought hard about the significance of the string of numbers and letters on the page before her. The date on the entry matched up with that time, too.

"Well, technically, it's not _really_ Hawthorne Park," Chloe said. Max looked at her confusedly. She shrugged and pointed to the entry again. "See this? _UG 2316_ \- the UG stands for _Underground_ . So technically, the delivery was to someplace _underneath_ the park..."

"...The Hawthorne metro station!" Max exclaimed. She remembered it vividly now: she'd been waiting on that grimy platform for Chloe to step off from the train. If she hadn't spotted Max and started to run, where would she have gone next...?

She recalled the diary entry, also dated from two days ago, where Frank was talking about a dogfight that was called off. Maybe... no, it couldn't be...

Chloe stood up. "Let's head back to my car," she suggested. "I got a feeling I know what's underneath Hawthorne Park... but we'd better be prepared for anything."

"What is it?" Max asked.

"There's an unused section of track down there," Chloe explained, "from an expansion to the Metro that was abandoned before it was finished. There's a door, hidden unless you know where to look. Used to make deliveries there, years ago... that's probably where I would've gone that day. And that's where we're gonna go next. That's where Damon is hiding... I just know it."

"Are you sure?"

Chloe nodded. "We're gonna find Damon, and Rachel, and stick it to those Hero assholes who think they're so much better than us. Whaddaya say, Super Max?" She held out her hand towards Max.

Scooping up her ill-gotten spoils from the raid they'd done on the RV, she accepted Chloe's hand to pull herself up to her feet. Her grip was strong, her skin rough and warm, and she held Max's hand for a moment longer before letting go.

Max felt a cocktail of emotions brewing within her: adrenaline, anticipation, and unease. There was still so much they did not understand. Would all of their answers really be waiting for them on the other side of that door? Even with her time powers, was she ready to confront a murderous drug lord and a demonic Villain? What about Nathan Prescott, and Vortex?

She drew a shuddering breath, then said, "Okay. Let's go."

Chloe gave her hand another reassuring squeeze. "C'mon, Maximus. Let's get outta here."

Max nodded. As long as she was with Chloe, she told herself, everything would turn out fine.

Together they slipped away, down from the roof of the building and into the heart of the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! More will be coming soon :)
> 
> ...Who else is excited for _The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit_ , which comes out in a week? That announcement came out of left field, but I for one am super excited for more stories set within the Life is Strange universe.  
> It seems like DontNod and I had some similar ideas when it comes to combining superheroes and Life is Strange... of course, we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out!


	11. Day Three - Daytime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and Chloe travel across the city towards UG 2316 and try not to get caught by the Hero Association.

 

_ "To curb the increasing trend of vigilante justice, laws were passed to allow only those metahumans who are licensed by the Hero Association to use their powers in public. Any metahumans found to be practicing without registration and a license are liable to be arrested on sight. Naturally, there was much backlash from civil rights advocates, although it cannot be denied that a metahuman is far more dangerous than an ordinary person, and for public safety should be closely monitored...” _

\- Mark Jefferson, “The Origin of Metahumans”

\---

Max and Chloe hurried across the streets of downtown New Arcadia, trying keep as low a profile as possible. Chloe led the way towards their objective: the Villain hideout that allegedly existed in the abandoned tracks beneath Hawthorne park. But getting to the metro station without being detected was going to be a challenge in its own right.

Anxiety clawed inside Max’s gut. She shivered, despite the bright, cloudless sky and warm midday sun that flooded the city streets. They were still on the lam — the Heroes were surely still looking for them, believing they were the ones to blame for Rachel’s disappearance. And despite Chloe’s reassurance that she knew the routes they could take to navigate around the Heroes’ drone patrols, that did little to dispel Max’s fears. She wasn’t sure what outcome would be worse: getting recaptured by the Heroes and exposed as an unlicensed metahuman, or if they actually managed to reach their destination, that hidden door down in the abandoned train track.

_ UG 2316 _ , the note in Frank's log book had said. What was really awaiting them down there...?

She hurried her footsteps to keep pace with Chloe’s lanky strides. With their heads down and cloth masks obscuring their faces, Max hoped it would be enough to foil the facial recognition subroutines of the aerial surveillance drones that patrolled the skies.

Her heart pounded in her throat as they slipped down a back-alley passageway. The tell-tale  _ whirr  _ of quadracopter blades told them a drone was passing over an adjacent street.

_ Is it just me, or is the surveillance thicker than usual?  _ Maybe she was just paying closer attention. As a civilian, she’d had nothing to fear from the Hero Association’s watchful eye. Now that she was a metahuman on the run, her perspective of the city was completely skewed.

_ No wonder the Villains wanted to build their secret base underground. That’s the only place that’s safe.  _ As she thought that, Max realized how ridiculous it was that she was equating  _ safety _ with the den of crime they were heading towards. Realistically, that was about as far from safe as she could imagine. But with nowhere else in the city that was outside of the Heroes’ reach,  _ safety _ no longer meant a place where she could go.

_ No, _ she reflected as she looked up at the back of Chloe’s head, where a few stray blue locks peeked out from underneath her hoodie. That warm tension she’d felt that morning grew inside her chest as she looked up at her. To Max, safety was a person, not a place.

Her childhood memories of New Arcadia were no good for navigating the city now, so dramatically had it changed since the great fire. The urban sprawl created a dense maze where it was dangerously easy to become lost. Narrow one-way streets and skinny alleyways criss-crossed one another, like veins connecting the major arteries of roads. In contrast with Max's confusion, Chloe seemed to know these streets by heart, effortlessly navigating the daunting labyrinth using a mental map that was better than any GPS. In that moment, Chloe became the one with superpowers, and Max her faithful sidekick.

"Getting close now," said Chloe over her shoulder as they traversed a narrow alleyway. The alley terminated in a wide-open sidewalk and a busy street. On the other side of the road, Max recognized the lush green foliage and gravel walkways: they'd reached Hawthorne Park. The grassy slopes were crowded with people walking dogs and playing catch and eating lunch. Many of them were gathered in the shade cast by the towering bronze statue of Harry Prescott which dominated the center of the park.

Even for the lunchtime rush, there seemed to be an unusual number of people gathered on the outer edge of the park. Many of them had formed a circle, murmuring and pointing at something, which Max couldn't see through the crowd. Several paces in front of her, Max saw Chloe soldier on ahead, slipping like a shadow in between the clueless bodies of bystanders.

Nervousness arose in the pit of Max's stomach. She was never any good at handling big, crowded spaces, and the crush of bodies was overwhelming her senses. But she needed to press on; their objective was just on the far side of the park. She could even see it: the red-and-white sphere indicating the entrance to the Metro station. Max took a deep breath, and stepped out from the alleyway into the light.

_ It's going to be okay, _ she told herself.  _ I just need to find Chloe, and follow her... huh? _ She held up one hand to shield her face from the blinding sunlight. As she blinked and her eyes adjusted, Max’s heart gave a lurch: she could no longer see Chloe. They must have gotten separated in the crowd.

“Chloe!” she called out, voice cracking as panic bubbled up within her.  _ How could we have gotten separated so fast? Without her, I’m screwed! _

“Max?” answered a female voice. Relief rose in Max’s chest as she turned towards the source of the voice, expecting to find Chloe there. But just as quickly as it had bloomed, that warmth turned to ice. The voice that answered was too high-pitched to belong to Chloe. But it still  sounded familiar. Somebody else that knew Max’s name.  _ Oh no...! _

The crowd of pedestrians parted with awestruck gasps and  _ oohs.  _ Standing in the center of the crowd was Angel, dressed in her Hero uniform, with its halo and priestly robe.  _ She _ must have been the reason why everyone had gathered on the sidewalk: they were looking for a chance to get up close and personal with one of the city's most popular Heroes. Now Angel was looking directly at Max, a surprised and confused expression on her face underneath the feathered mask.

_ Oh, crap!  _ Max thought. Talk about bad luck... the last thing she wanted was to have a run-in with a Hero, now of all times. And although she had to admit Angel was preferable to any of the others, Max knew she needed to make herself scarce immediately.

“Max, wait—" Angel began, reaching out a hand towards her. But Max had no intention of waiting around so that she could be captured. She turned on her heel and sprinted down the sidewalk, away from where Angel stood.

The crowd parted around her and the Hero, and Max realized how it must look to them. With the black mask she wore across her eyes, she definitely looked the part of a vigilante anti-Hero, the exact type of character that the Hero Association was duty bound to apprehend. Which, she had to admit, described her to a T at this point. Still, if she had to play the part of a Villain in someone else’s narrative, that was fine as long as it meant she was protecting what was really important.

“I won’t hurt you! I just want to talk!” Angel’s voice called out.

_ Yeah, right!!  _ Max thought, casting a glance over her shoulder at the Hero pursuing her. This turned out to be a mistake. The moment she hesitated and their eyes met, Angel held out her hand towards Max and the glowing halos of her Virtuous Binding appeared around Max’s midsection. She jolted to a complete stop as a numbing energy suffused her limbs, freezing her into immobility.

The tether from Angel’s binding made her overbalance, and she dropped to her knees in an attempt to not to fall on her face. She heard Angel’s footsteps approach from behind.

“Max, listen,” Angel said, reaching out a hand to rest it on Max's shoulder. She struggled, pulling against the bands of hard light that held her immobile, but they remained steadfast. She walked around to face Max and knelt so that they were eye to eye. "I know what you are."

Max looked up at Angel — or Kate, as she had introduced herself the other day. She set her jaw and glared, without saying anything. Kate apparently took Max’s silence as a sign that she was willing to listen. She dropped her voice low, so that only Max could hear. "I know that you're a Metahuman," she said in a near-whisper.

Max's eyes widened involuntarily.  _ Crap _ . Of course Kate had figured it out after what she saw in that bathroom. Was Kate about to taze her and take her back to the Hero HQ?

"Don't worry, though," continued Kate. "I'm sure you didn't kidnap Tempest, no matter what Oracle and Nathan say. I'm not here because of that."

Max glanced around at the crowd gathered there, who were filming her and Kate on their cell phones. She couldn't see Chloe anywhere.  _ What does she mean, it's not about Tempest? _ Max wondered. She had a feeling that she could escape the binding at any time using her Rewind, but a part of her was really curious about what Kate had to say. 

"Then what...?" she asked.

Kate took a breath, and continued in a near-whisper, “Yesterday, in front of the Heroes, you said something. You said that after Tempest disappeared, you woke up missing your memories from the previous day. Is that true...?"

Max blinked. Did Kate know something about her missing memories? Slowly, she nodded, confused.

"When you said that, I thought we might have something in common," Kate said, her voice hushed underneath the roar of the crowd, so that only Max could hear her. "...I'm missing time, too. Several days over the last couple months. The other Heroes don't believe me when I tell them... but, I think you do." Her eyes met Max's, imploring and apparently sincere behind her feathered mask.

"R-really?" Kate was missing memories too? What were the odds that was unrelated?

The Hero nodded. "So that’s why... I don’t think we should be enemies. I want to work together until we can find out find out whatever the cause of this is."

For a moment, Max considered what it would mean to accept her alliance. Then she thought of what Chloe might say, and immediately decided against it. Even if she was trustworthy, Angel was a part of the Hero Association, the rest of whom wouldn't hesitate to arrest Max and Chloe on the spot.

Maybe when they found Rachel, and therefore had proof of their innocence, then they could collaborate. But until then...

"Sorry, Kate," Max told her, dropping her gaze down to the ground. "Chloe and I can't work with you. At least, not until the rest of the Hero Association stops blaming us for Tempest's disappearance."

Beneath her mask, Kate's eyes turned steely. "...I was afraid you’d say that," she said. She flexed her fingers, and Max felt the glowing halos of light tighten around her body. "In that case, I can't ignore Oracle's orders. As a member of the Hero Association, for the good of the city, I have to take you into custody."

"No," Max told her, "You won't."

Extending the fingers of her right hand, Max felt for that familiar  _ twist _ as she Rewound three minutes into the past.

Just as before, the binding vanished from around her chest as she travelled back in time. She felt a disorienting head rush as the crowd swarmed around her, passing through the space where she and Angel had knelt. The Hero disappeared backwards into the crush of bodies and vanished as well. Now safely out of sight from Angel, Max released her Rewind, becoming another anonymous face in the crush of people.

_ Gotta find Chloe, _ she thought as she shouldered her way through the crowd, back towards the entrance of the alleyway where she'd last seen her. Sure enough, as she entered the alley she found herself face-to-face with her friend again.

"Hey, Max-- wait, weren't you just behind me...?" Chloe asked, giving her a puzzled look. Then, seeing the worried downturn of Max's expression, her eyes widened. "Oh. Time travel, huh?"

Max nodded. "We can't go this way," she said. "Angel is waiting there. We'll get separated in the crowd, and she'll catch me in her halo thingy."

Chloe smirked. "Angel, huh... guess she's trying to prove to Oracle she can still do her job, after we broke out from her control last time."

"I don't think that's it, exactly," Max said, shaking her head. "She wasn't angry with me. She actually said something about missing memories, and that she wanted to work together..."

"You can't trust her, Max," Chloe said immediately. "Even if she means well. They're all part of the same corrupt system."

"...I know," Max said. "That's what I told her, and she tried to take me in after that. So I used my Rewind and came back here to warn you."

"Good thing you did," Chloe said. She cast a glance at the alleyway around them. "Well, if Angel's waiting for us on the other side, it means that way's a bust. That means our only other option is..." she grinned, pointing upwards at a drain pipe that snaked up the side of the building. It looked like they could use it to access to a fire escape and a ladder that led onto a rooftop. Max looked at it and gave an involuntary groan.

" _ More _ parkour?"

"You know you love it," Chloe said in a singsongy voice. Then she knelt down and laced her fingers together, holding them out to give Max a platform to boost herself up. Max rolled her eyes and grabbed on to the pipe, using Chloe's support to push herself up to where she could grab the edge of the ladder. "Damn! You're lightweight as fuck," Chloe joked. "What are you made of, styrofoam?"

As she swung her legs onto the first rung and started to pull herself upwards, she looked down at Chloe.

"Aren't you worried about falling at all?" she asked, extending an arm downwards to give Chloe an assist as well. Her rough, calloused hand grabbed Max's, and once she'd gotten purchase on the ladder as well, both of them scrambled up to the flat rubber roof on top of the building.

Chloe dusted herself off. "Nah. Been doing this long enough that I know what the risks are. Besides, you'll just rewind if I fall, right?"

Max frowned. "I could rewind if you did, sure, but I don't think it would work for me. I think I'm immune to my own time-reversal. So I can't undo my own injuries... and either way, I don't wanna find out.”

"Oh," Chloe said. She straightened up, looking at the area around them. The roof of the building had a decent view of the park and the surrounding buildings.

Max shielded her eyes from the sun and looked across the wide open green space of the park. From where she was standing, she could see the exact apartment building where she'd pursued a hooded figure onto the roof.  A sensation of deja vu washed over her; it felt as though she'd somehow Rewound three entire days back in time. She recalled in vivid detail what she'd seen take place in the park below, when Tempest dueled against the unknown Villain with the purple flames. She could almost still hear the haunting screams of bystanders echoing up from down below. A large clock face shone down over the park, and Max recalled in sickening detail how she'd seen Tempest flung there by the Villain's attack, shattering the face of it. The moment that fractured time itself.

In contrast to her memories of that day, today Hawthorne Park was nothing but peaceful, albeit crowded. People were walking their dogs, picnicking on the grass, and sitting by the fountain to stave off the midday heat. Any other time in her life, and Max probably would have taken the time to sit in the park and spend an afternoon taking pictures of passerby. Now, caught up in a whirlwind of Metahumans and conspiracy and illicit drugs and time travel, it felt like she hardly had the time to breathe, let alone indulge her hobby.

A part of her really missed it, though. Taking pictures used to be how she defined herself; in fact, ever since she was young, ' _ I'm going to be a photographer _ ' was the mantra that had gotten her through difficult times. It was why taking this job with the New Arcadia Times and Mark Jefferson seemed like a dream come true: she could finally pursue her passion and make a living at the same time. But she never imagined it would end up like this, on the run from the Heroes while hiding a secret that seemed impossibly big for someone as small as her.

She might have to get a move on soon, but there was no reason she couldn't indulge her passion, just for a short while. The last time she'd been up here, she'd lost her camera and all the pictures she took. She wasn't about to make that mistake again.

Raising her camera's viewfinder to her eye, she zoomed in on the people in the park. The shutter clicked as she captured moments of time: a dog playing fetch, a child eating an ice cream cone, a couple holding hands by the edge of the fountain. Little fragments of banal happiness, which stood in stark contrast to the darkness which she now knew lay at the heart of it all. By photographing life as it unfolded, Max felt as though she could borrow a bit of that tranquility, for her now exceedingly non-tranquil life. As the shutter clicked again and again, she felt her worries slide away.

Turning her camera back towards the roof, she spied Chloe, standing several paces away, looking down off the edge of the roof. She seemed... determined, yet carefree at the same time. How was that possible? Chloe herself was like a paradox. Max smiled behind her camera, as she framed Chloe in her shot, and took a photo.

[SNAP!]

At the sound of the camera, Chloe turned towards her and grinned. She approached Max and sat down by her side. A shiver went down Max's spine as she reached out and rested her hand on Max's shoulder.

"See anything interesting down there, shutterbug?" Chloe asked, her voice unexpectedly soft.

_ Oh yeah, _ Max thought. She was supposed to be scanning for threats, too. Looking across the park, the only sign of anything out of the ordinary was increased surveillance. Besides Angel, who was signing autographs in the center of the crowd, there were several drones patrolling the skies. She could spy three of them, flying low over Hawthorne Park.

"Seems like more drones than usual," Max observed aloud, taking a picture of one of the quadracopters as it flew by.

Chloe gave a nonverbal reply and slid her hand down lower on Max's back. She felt Chloe's fingers pick something off the fabric of her jacket.

"Hey, Max, look at this," she said, holding the thing out between thumb and forefinger for Max to see. She looked up from her camera's viewfinder and at the tiny object Chloe was holding. It was a circular disc made from black plastic, with metal teeth on the back to attach to the fabric.

Max studied it, frowning. "What is that?"

"Tracking device," Chloe said. She turned it over, revealing a faint logo of the Hero Association. "Angel touched you when she tried to stop you, right? Looks like she put a bug on you."

"...Really?" Max didn't want to believe it. But the device was there, in Chloe's hand.

"Yup," Chloe said. She held the plastic disc up to the sunlight. "Pretty sophisticated little thing. Brooke makes 'em along with the rest of their Hero tech. It's got GPS and a microphone. It's like we're walking around with a giant target painted on our backs that says, 'hey, illegal anti-Heroes here, come and get us!'"

"Wowsers... so Kate really was just trying to take us in." A part of Max felt betrayed. Kate had sounded so convincing when they'd spoken in the park. But then she'd literally gone behind Max's back and placed a tracker on her. It didn't make sense at all.

"Told ya Max. You can't trust any of them." Chloe balled her hand into a fist around the tracking device. "Let's see 'em track THIS!" she shouted, winding up a throw and chucking it over the side of the building. 

As Max watched the tiny object tumble over the edge, disappearing down among the crowded walkways of the park, she felt a sense of growing anxiety, although she didn't know why. Was turning their backs on the Heroes the right thing to do?

Out of the corner of her eye, she kept watch of the surveillance drones. They hovered over the park, flying below the height of the building’s roof, but they couldn’t be too careful.

“Any ideas for how we should get across?” Max asked.

Chloe scratched at her chin underneath the bandanna that was tied over her face. "What if we created a distraction? Something big and loud enough that'll draw the attention of Angel and the drones for long enough that we can cross the park uninterrupted."

"What did you have in mind?" Max asked. She had a bad feeling about this.

"Hmm. How about..." She pointed towards the towering bronze statue of Harry Prescott standing in the center of the water fountain. "...We topple ol' Harry over there? I bet everybody would notice if he decided to suddenly take a nice afternoon nap."

"You mean we should knock over the statue?" Max blinked at her. "Chloe, I have no idea how I would do that. My power is time reversal, not super strength. Besides... that's a good way to get every Hero in the city to come after us."

Chloe considered Max's point. Then she shook her head. “Right, right... sorry, I was just thinking how Rachel used to... she never did anything by halves. Always going in guns blazing.”

"It _ would _ make for a good distraction... but I have a less life-threatening idea," Max said. Then she reached up and un-tied her black fabric mask, tucking it into her camera bag.

"Max, what are you doing--" Chloe began, but stopped talking as Max reached behind her head as well. Her hand brushed across the shell of Chloe's ear as she untied the bird skull bandana. As the cloth fell away from Chloe's face, revealing her confused expression, Max took it in two hands, folded it and handed it back to her.

"I was thinking... maybe we're a little  _ too _ suspicious, dressed like this," Max told her. "I mean, we totally look like we're up to no good. So my thinking was, we can just hide in plain sight. Act like we're in the park for normal reasons. If you keep your hood up, they won't see your blue hair."

"But... what about the drones?" Chloe asked, one eyebrow raised. "Without our masks on, they'll recognize our faces, and sound the alarm. We might be able to escape if it's just Angel, but I doubt we'll have as much luck if the entire Hero Association comes for our asses."

"Don't worry," said Max. "I've got a plan for that, too. If we get caught, I'll just Rewind."

"All right, Super Max, lead the way," Chloe said with a shrug.

The two descended from the roof of the building and back into the alleyway. By the entrance to the park, Max faced the crowd of people once more. Knowing that Angel was signing autographs in the center of the crowd, as soon as they emerged from the alleyway Max immediately began walking in the opposite direction. She wasn't going to lose Chloe like last time, so she reached out and took her hand. Chloe raised an eyebrow and then smiled, lacing their fingers together. The two of them walked shoulder-to-shoulder until they reached the park's edge.

Max kept her voice hushed down low. "I figure if we look like a couple, it'll seem like we're in the park for normal reasons. Like we're on a date, or something."

Chloe gave a low chuckle and pressed her side up close to Max. "Really Max? That's the  _ only _ reason?"

"Well I-- uhhh--" Max blushed and lowered her gaze to the ground. By her side, Chloe continued to laugh.

"No, but that's a good idea," Chloe said. She appeared to be in a good mood. "Couples make people uncomfortable sometimes. Especially when they're all lovey-dovey. It's not a bad way to avert their attention. Nice thinking, Max." She gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

As they walked down the gravel walkway, their joined hands swinging freely in the space between them, a different kind of nervousness welled up within Max. Chloe was  _ so close _ right now. And posing as a couple only served to draw greater focus on whatever it was that was going on between them.

_ You're being ridiculous, Max, _ she told herself.  _ You slept in the same bed with her last night. This isn't even all that special by comparison. _ She worried that her palm was getting sweaty. Chloe didn’t seem to mind, though, and was even whistling a cheerful tune as they walked through the park.

A high-pitched whining noise interrupted their moment of bliss, and a shadow passed over them. Max jerked her head upwards just in time to see the drone, which hovered above them, suspended by its four rotary blades. The electronic eye focused in on their faces. Before Max could react, a light on the drone’s underside began strobing a bright red light and blaring its alarm.

“STOP,” the drone commanded in a digitized, yet feminine-sounding voice. “STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE.”

Around them, people began to turn and look. Max’s anxiety was through the roof.

“Max!” said Chloe. “They found us! You gotta Rewind!”

Max didn’t need to be told twice. She held out her hand, reversing time about a minute, separating herself from Chloe in the process. When she returned to linear time, Chloe was several meters away. She hurried to her side.

“They caught us?” Chloe asked. Max nodded, and pointed up at the drone, fifty meters away but heading quickly towards their location.

Her hand found Chloe’s again. “What do we do?!” She hissed, voice nearly a whisper.

“C’mon,” Chloe said, pulling at Max’s arm and leading her towards a shaded area underneath a thick tree trunk, shielding her with her own body.

“Is this gonna work? I’m pretty sure they can still see our faces,” Max told her, heartbeat pounding in her throat. Chloe's body was so close. If she had to rewind again, and again, then she felt as though she might get a nosebleed or pass out.

Chloe spun her around so that they were face-to-face. Her nose was mere inches away.

“Kiss me,” she said. Her blue eyes stared directly into Max’s.

“I— whaaat?”

“Or pretend to. It doesn’t matter. Just do it, quick!”

Max didn’t have time to deliberate, or think about what any of it meant. The drone was coming, and Chloe was there, and Max’s back pressed against the rough bark of the tree, and Chloe’s blonde eyelashes framed her blue, blue eyes, and Max leaned in, grabbing her hoodie on either side, and kissed her.

A definitely-for-real, not-at-all-pretend kiss.

She screwed her eyes shut, so she couldn’t see Chloe’s reaction. All she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears, the soft wet smack of their lips together, and the high-pitched whirr of the drone, becoming softer and softer as it passed overhead and flew onwards.

Once she could no longer hear the drone, Max opened her eyes. Chloe’s face was still really, really close. Her eyes were open, watching Max. She was sure that Chloe could see her crimson red blush, which had spread to the tips of her ears.

“Is it gone?” Max whispered, her voice soft and uncertain. 

Chloe, to her credit, appeared to be blushing a bit as well. Max noted in a distracted way that her lips were still shining.

“...I think so,” Chloe said after a pause, her voice also in a whisper. She was still looking at Max, her eyes soft and curious, as though she was viewing her for the first time in a new light. Her glossy lips curled into a small smile. “Shit, Max, that was hella badass. Didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Um, thanks?” Max replied, at a loss for words. She felt like this was significant, but she had no idea what stage of a relationship  _ making out in order to avoid being caught by surveillance drones  _ was.

Rather than pulling away right then, Chloe lingered in close, still watching Max as though she was undecided about whether to kiss her again. But there would be no point to it, right? The drone had long passed them by. And anyway, Max had kissed  _ Chloe _ first... hadn't she?

Although it was difficult, Max turned her head away, awkwardly yet effectively breaking the moment they had between them.

“...The entrance to the Metro is right over there,” Max said. “I don’t see any more drones. Looks like our way’s clear.”

“Oh. Yeah,” Chloe said. If Max didn’t know better, she’d say she heard a hint of disappointment in her voice.  _ That can’t be right, though, _ Max thought to herself.  _ Chloe’s biggest priority is saving Rachel and clearing our names. All of this is just a means to an end. It doesn’t mean anything besides that. _

An icy cold resolve flooded the pit of her stomach as she thought these things. Whatever warm, fond feelings of affection she had weren’t gonna help them track down Rachel, and they certainly wouldn’t help them defeat Damon Merrick or find the source of Vortex. Chloe was important, and she needed to be protected. But Max couldn’t let herself feel anything more than that, not with so much else at stake. She could jeopardize the mission, costing both of them their lives if she did.

Still, there was a part of her mind that wouldn’t stop replaying over and over the sensation of Chloe’s soft lips against hers, the warm press of their bodies and the small gasp one of them had made when they pulled apart...

They made it the rest of the way to the station without incident or distraction. When they descended the stairs and reached the upper level of the subway platform before the gate, Chloe pulled them aside into a bathroom so that they could put on their disguises once again. They didn’t say much as they stood side by side, adjusting their masks, although twice Max met Chloe’s eyes through the mirror before rapidly looking away once again. With the black mask firmly in place over her eyes once more, Max let Chloe take the lead in determining what course they’d take next.

“Okay, so at this stop the train comes every seven minutes or so,” Chloe explained as they headed down towards the platform. “The entrance to the abandoned section is about a five minute walk down the tracks, so it’s a tight window of time we’re working with here if we wanna get to where we’re going.”

“What happens if the train comes while we’re walking down the tracks?” Max wondered. Chloe raised an eyebrow at her, as if to ask,  _ what do you think?  _ before giving a shrug.

“Point is, we’re not gonna be there when that happens,” she said. “We’ll jump down onto the tracks just as soon as the train leaves. Then we’ll get there, and you let me do the talking and I’ll get us inside.”

“Okay,” Max said. They’d come too far to turn back at this point. Even though she didn’t have a clue what was on the other side of the door, or what they’d do when they got in...

As they stood on the platform, Max noticed out of the corner of her eye a familiar sight: the graffiti tag she’d seen on that first day, from when she was hidden with her camera, waiting for somebody with glowing eyes to disembark from the train. The glittering, iridescent blue butterfly was still there, next to the words on the wall, but there was something different about them. She approached to get a closer look, and saw that somebody had modified the words, crossing them out and correcting in red spray paint:

TEMPEST IS ~~MY GIRLFRIEND~~ **GONE**

HEROES R ~~HUMAN~~ **LIARS** TOO

Even the blue butterfly, she noticed, was changed. The vandal had sprayed a single red dot of paint right over its body where the two wings met. Some of the red pigment dripped and ran down the wall underneath. The color and shape of the splatter reminded Max disconcertingly of a bloodstain. She turned away, feeling a bit sick to her stomach.

The LED sign indicated that the train was arriving, and soon she heard a rumble and felt the gust of hot, stale subterranean air on her face. Chloe tugged her forward as the train pulled into the station, leading her past the opening doors and towards the far end of the platform. There was about a ten-foot drop onto the tracks below. Max looked down, noticing the garbage collected in between the concrete slats as well as the sign warning them against touching the electrified third rail. Was she walking into a death trap...?

The train dinged and shut its doors. With a squeal of brakes, it started to pull away from the platform. Just seconds after it left, and without hesitation, Chloe dropped down onto the tracks below with a dull crunch. Then she looked back up at Max and gestured she should follow as well. Max nervously checked over her shoulder to see whether anyone had noticed, but most of the other people waiting on the platform before had boarded the train. There was nobody around them in their corner of the station.

“What are you waiting for? Come on down!” Chloe urged her, impatience in her tone. She outstretched her arms towards Max. Crouching on the yellow warning line, Max dangled her legs over the side and then dropped down. Chloe’s strong arms caught her as she landed, just like before during their escape from Blackwell Academy.

Once they were both down on the tracks, Chloe took off walking at a brisk pace, her lanky strides covering two rail slats at a time. Max hurried to keep up, remembering what she’d said about how the trains came every seven minutes, and how the door was a five minute walk away. There was no time to dawdle.

They each flicked on their phones for light, which seemed to hardly penetrate the darkness of the tunnel. Small, dark shapes of rats and other vermin scurried away as the beams of their flashlights passed over. The tunnel curved off to one side and sloped further downwards. Max felt an uncomfortable feeling of vertigo — or, the opposite of vertigo, since they were below ground.

They walked together in the darkness for some time, silent save for the echoes of their footfalls. The stale underground air tasted rancid on the back of her throat. The abyss of the tunnel seemed to stretch on and on. Inside that darkness, punctuated only by periodic emergency lights and the flashlights both women carried, Max worried they were going to pass by the hidden door. But Chloe pressed forward with determination and confidence, inspiring Max to do the same.

Eventually, her hurrying footsteps slowed, and then stopped. Hands on hips, Chloe turned to face the wall of the tunnel. At first, Max thought it was just like all the other walls, caked-on dirt and grime, but as Chloe’s flashlight passed over it she could make out the faint outline of a metal door set into the rough concrete.

Chloe boosted herself up from the slats onto the concrete threshold that led to the door. She reached out with a closed fist and rapped a pattern on the door: knock-knock. Knock. Knock-knock. The metallic sound seemed to boom down the tunnel, echoing through the still subterranean air.

A moment passed, then another. Max was starting to worry that they’d come all this way for nothing when a tiny metal window slid open at eye level. A pair of steely eyes glared outwards at Chloe.

“State your name and business,” came a gruff voice from behind the door.

“Chloe Price,” she replied, her tone confident and unflappable. “I’m here on behalf of Dogcatcher. Got a delivery for ya.”

The man behind the door grunted, and there was a sound of papers rustling. After a minute, he replied, “You’re not on the list.”

“Check again,” Chloe urged. “I’m a regular. Fastest runner in the biz. We’ve done business loads of times, your boss and my Dogman.”

“You’re not. On the list,” the man repeated.

“That’s bullshit,” Chloe replied, impatience now seeping into her tone. “How the fuck d’you think I knew how to find this place? I’ve done plenty of runs here. Ask your boss if you aren’t sure.”

“I’m sure,” the man told her. “Unless the boss gives you permission, you’re not getting through.”

Chloe ground her teeth in frustration. Then she reached into her pocket and removed something. Max’s eyes widened as she recognized the baggie of white pills that she’d nicked from Dogcatcher’s RV. She dangled these in front of the window slot. “See this? We’re talking top-shelf stuff. Premium quality. D’you really think that Damon is the kinda businessman who’s content to just let it slide when his product doesn’t get delivered on time?”

As soon as Chloe dropped Damon’s name, the doorman’s eyes widened in a flash of recognition. He looked at the bag of pills and appeared to be considering something.

“I’ve got a job to do, too,” he said, although his voice sounded more uncertain than before. “If I let you in, and you’re not who you say you are...”

“Do you really think I’d bother coming down to this shit-pit for any other reason? Fuck no. Now, we can go back-and-forth like this all day, if you want, or you can let me in, I’ll make the delivery that  _ you guys _ requested, and we can all get back to jerking off all day or whatever it is you do down here.”

The door man seemed even more hesitant. “You’re sure the boss is expecting you?” He asked after a pause.

“Sure as hell. He called up my boss last night. Wanted this delivery ASAP. Guess you’ve got something special goin’ on down here tonight, or something. I reckon there’s a fight happening tonight in the arena?”

“You— how would you—” The doorman looked perplexed. “You aren’t supposed to know about that...”

“Yeah, well, tell that to Dogcatcher. Dude won’t shut up about how cool it was, how much money he made last time, that kind of thing. Sounds like fun, if you’re into that sorta thing.”

“It’s invite-only,” the door man said.

“Right. That’s why I’m just gonna make my delivery and then leave. We cool?”

The door man grumbled and then fell quiet, as though he were silently weighing the pros and cons of the situation. In the distance, down the tunnel, Max thought she could hear a distant rumble. A faint breeze stirred the ends of her hair.

There was a metallic jingling sound from behind the door, as chains and deadbolts were removed. After what felt like a long minute, the door opened a crack, spilling a beam of light out into the gloom of the tunnel. The door man stood there, holding the handle and glowering at Chloe with extreme suspicion in his eyes.

“I’ll take you to Damon,” he told her. “Five minutes, and then you get the hell out.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Chloe. “Lead the way—”

“—Wait,” the man interrupted. He looked past Chloe into the dark of the tunnel, and his eyes fell on Max. Terror laced through her veins, and she felt like her knees were about to collapse under her. “Who the hell is that?! You said you were alone!”

“Oh, that’s— uh— that’s Black Butterfly,” Chloe said. “She’s one of Dogcatcher’s other clients. She’s here for the fight tonight. She may not look it, but she’s a real high roller. She can win any gamble, or so she says, but the stakes aren’t high enough anywhere else, and— gah!” Chloe’s explanation was cut short as the man reached out and grabbed her by the neck. His fingers dug into the sides of her throat as she let out a desperate choking sound.

“You’re full of shit.” the door man growled. “Who are you? And who is she? Tell me the truth!”

“I’m— she’s—” Chloe gasped for air. Max’s fingers twitched. That man was hurting her! Her instincts told her to rewind, but she didn’t see how she could help the situation, even if she turned back time. She wasn't a great liar, and Chloe had instructed her to keep silent. She stood frozen in panicked indecision.

Finally, Chloe managed to gasp, “She’s a metahuman!”

This at least stunned the guard. He slackened his grip on Chloe’s throat. She doubled over, coughing and gasping, sinking to her knees on the dirt covered tracks. When she’d regained enough of her breath, she looked up at the man, a hateful glare in her eyes. In the distance, but closer than before, the rumble of the train grew louder.

“Fuckin’... okay, fine,” she said. “Truth is? She’s a metahuman. Just discovered this week. And she’s no fan of the Heroes, just like you and me. When she heard that Damon had...  _ opportunities _ for people like her, she begged me to introduce her.” Chloe gave another retch, clutching at her bruised throat as she straightened up. “I told her not to come, but she wouldn’t listen. And then you fuckin’ choked me! See what thanks I get.”

“A metahuman, huh?” The door man had a different expression now. His eyes passed over Max with a hungry look, like a cat watching prey. It made the bottom of her stomach drop out. “You should’ve said so earlier.”

“Well, screw me for trying to do my job...” Chloe grumbled.

“I’ll take you both to Damon,” the man said. He stepped back up on the platform and opened the metal door wider.

“Christ, finally,” Chloe said. She looked over her shoulder at Max. “You coming, Black?”

_ That must be my code name, _ Max thought as she stepped up on the platform. She could see the headlamps of the train in the tunnel now, and hear its brakes squeal as it approached. She looked up and made eye contact with Chloe, who was wearing an expectant expression on her face as though awaiting an answer from her. She managed a curt nod, and was then ushered inside by the door man. As they stepped inside, they heard a roar as the train passed over the spot where they’d been standing just moments before.

The metal door clicked and latched behind them, and Max blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light. As she took in the sight before her, her eyes widened in awe.

They were standing on a circular walkway, which encircled a pit that was more than five hundred feet in diameter. The sides of the pit sloped downwards, and were lined with stands and bleachers for people to sit. At the bottom, in the center of the pit was a flat circle of earth, which was ringed by a thick chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire. Wire-mesh cages surrounded the pit on all sides. Bright floodlights shone down into the pit, illuminating the stands and the arena in the center. It looked nearly like a boxing ring, only much more rough, dangerous, and deadly.

If this was a dog-fighting ring, as Chloe had said, it must be for some really,  _ really _ big dogs...

Max's thoughts drifted to her camera, which was still in its case on her back. She wanted to take a photo, to document this, but she knew that if she did it would arouse suspicion and invite questions she couldn't answer. She suppressed her photo impulse and remained silent.

As Max stared, she heard the door man’s voice behind her say, “Follow me. I’ll take you to where Damon is waiting.” He gave a pointed look at Max. “And no funny business, all right, little Meta? We got ways of dealing with your kind.”

Max mutely nodded that she understood. As the man led her down a staircase, along the sloping sides of the pit and towards the arena’s center, she exchanged a look with Chloe.

“ _ You told him I was a metahuman? _ ” she hissed under her breath.

“ _ What else was I supposed to do? _ ” Chloe whispered back. “ _ I got us inside, didn’t I?” _

Max had to admit that this at least was true. The man led them further into the pit until they reached the ground level of the arena. Then he turned, leading them into a side passageway. Outside of the floodlights, the hallway was almost as dark as the rest of the subway tunnels.

The door man stopped before them and held out his hand. "Can't have you bringing weapons in. Hand over everything you're carrying, and I'll take you to see Damon."

Alarm flashed in Max's mind as she clutched more tightly onto the strap of her camera bag. She didn't want to let go of it; what if it got lost or stolen again?

Chloe grimaced, and narrowed her eyes at the man. "We'll get them back, won't we?"

"Sure," the man said. "I'll just hang onto it for now."

She turned towards Max. "...Better do as he asks, Black," she told her.

Every instinct in Max's mind was screaming at her not to, but she couldn't see any other way to reach their objective. They were so close! Damon Merrick could be awaiting just beyond that door. Gritting her teeth, she slipped the strap of her bag off her shoulder and wordlessly held it out for the door man.

He accepted Max's bag with a silent nod. There was a rattle of keys and a creaking of metal joints as he opened a door in the darkness.

“In here,” he grunted, holding the door open for them. The room beyond was almost pitch black. Max didn’t like how it looked. Chloe, too, hesitated as if unsure. The man cleared his throat impatiently. “ _ In. Now.” _

Caught in a position where it was impossible to refuse, Chloe stepped over the threshold and Max did the same. No sooner had they both did then there was a rattling crash as the door slammed shut behind them, trapping them both inside.

“Hey!!!” Chloe yelled. She turned and grabbed the bars on the door, rattling them furiously. “You said you’d take us to Damon! What gives?!”

“Change of plans,” the henchman said smugly. He slung Max's bag over his shoulder and peered at them from between the bars with a wicked grin. “Before Damon is willing to meet with you, you’ll have to go through a little... interview, first.” His steely eyes looked straight at Max. “If you really  _ are _ a Metahuman as you say, then you should have no trouble handling this... audition. You do well, then maybe the boss will wanna have a chat.”

“This is such bullshit! We had a deal!” shouted Chloe. “Dogcatcher’s not gonna do any more business with you when he hears this! I’m the best runner he’s got!”

“Really? ‘Cuz your drug dealer called the boss a couple hours ago, warning him that one of his runners went rogue and nicked his stash,” the man said. “Pretty sure he’ll be happy to have this returned to him.” He tossed the bag of white pills up in the air and caught it on its way down.

“No—!!”

“Just sit tight, little girls. You’ll get called when it’s your turn. See you in the arena,” the man said, laughing darkly as he turned his back on them and started to walk away.

“FUCK!!!” Chloe screamed, kicking at the door and causing it to shake and shudder on its hinges. No matter how much force she applied, the door remained stubbornly closed. Eventually, with a screech of frustration, Chloe collapsed onto the floor, her hands covering her face. She drew a shuddering breath, and let out a sob.

“I’m sorry, Max,” she said, voice muffled underneath her hands. “I should have— I let them trick us. Now they’ve got us trapped. I’m— I’m sorry.”

Max, still shell-shocked, didn’t reply right away. She was still piecing together the significance of what the door man had said, and what she’d seen. The arena... the “audition”... and what was written in Frank’s diary. At long last, like gears sliding together, she finally understood what was going on.

“Chloe,” she said, under her breath. “This place... this arena... you were right. It’s not for dog fighting, after all.” She shook her head. “It’s people. They’re pitting us — Metahumans — against one another, and taking bets to see who wins.” She looked over at Chloe, and they shared a long, terrified look.

“...Shit,” Chloe said. " _ We’re _ tonight's entertainment. They're gonna put us inside that arena."


	12. Day Three - Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapped in the underground Villain's lair, Max and Chloe will need to improvise if they are going to survive in the deadly Metahuman Arena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Point of order: I made some changes to the preceding chapter for reasons of plot shenanigans, so if you're reading this serially, I'd suggest going back and re-reading Chapter 11 before reading this one. (If you're just now reading this fic for the first time, feel free to disregard.)
> 
> This chapter contains some graphic violence and foul language. So keep that in mind.

_"Every time a new Metahuman is inducted into the Hero Association, they are assigned their very own personal Manager. A Hero Manager’s job is primarily to coach in the proper use of one’s powers, teach control and discipline, and draw out hidden potential within one’s superhuman abilities. The difference between a trained and untrained Hero can spell life or death in a crisis situation.”_

\- Mark Jefferson, “The Origin of Metahumans”

\---

Deep below the streets of New Arcadia City, in the hollowed-out caverns of an aborted metro extension, behind the steel bars of a dimly-lit cell, Chloe Price paced back and forth across the dirt floor, boiling with anger.

“Mother fucker!!!” she shouted, pounding her fist against the cell door, which rattled against its padlock but didn’t budge. “Bastard! Turd muncher! Son of a bitch!” Her furious curses echoed hollowly beneath the dripping ceiling.

Max sat quietly, her back leaned against the concrete wall of the cell, watching Chloe’s fit of rage. She wished she could feel that same level of biting fury — instead, her gut was gripped in a cold dread. She was obsessively taking stock of all of the possible outcomes of the situation they’d stumbled into.

She thought back to earlier that day, when they'd discovered that Angel had placed a tracking device on Max's clothing during their encounter in the park. If Chloe hadn't spotted the device and thrown it away, would the Heroes have pursued them into the underground tunnels by now? Surely the point of the underground facility was that it was, well, underground and unknown to everybody except those that were in Damon's gang. Was there any chance anyone knew they were down here? If she only had some way of sending a signal outside of the facility, then maybe someone could rescue them...

Chloe gave the bars of the cell one more furious rattle, then her shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh. She turned towards Max, a regretful look in her eye.

“I’m sorry Max,” she said again. “I fucked up. It’s my fault we’re in this mess.”

“No, I'm the one who fucked up,” Max replied. “I let us get caught by Dogcatcher when we raided his RV. If I’d been able to rewind to the start, like we’d planned, then we could’ve escaped without him ever seeing us and reporting to Damon.”

Chloe shook her head. “No way, Max. I’m not letting you blame yourself — you did everything you could. It’s my own damn fault... I was so fixated on finding Rachel that I didn’t consider who we were dealing with.” She grit her teeth. “I knew that Damon was an evil bastard, but geez... making Metahumans fight each other for his own amusement? How sick can you get?”

“That is super messed up,” Max agreed. A shiver ran down her spine. She tried not to think about the fact that they’d be seeing the inside of that arena soon enough. She had no idea how they could possibly make it out of there alive.

Chloe resumed her pacing. A furrow creased her brow as she appeared deep in thought. “If Rachel came here, then... she must’ve been caught by Damon, too,” she said. “But... there’s no way they could hold her in a cell like this. If she were put in here, she’d melt these bars in a second and blow this entire shithole up... so, they must have a way to override her powers somehow.”

Max curled her knees up into her chest, feeling smaller than ever. The last thing she needed was a reminder of how lackluster her own powers were, compared to Tempest’s. “Sorry, Chloe,” she said in a small voice. “My powers are useless... I can’t shoot fireballs or fly in the air. All I can do is warn you when something bad is about to happen... but I’m not any good at that, either.” She sniffled. “I didn’t even think to go back and warn you before he locked us in here. What good am I?!”

Chloe’s rage softened as she noticed Max’s emotional pain. She approached where she was curled up and reached down to take Max’s hand in hers. She ran a thumb over Max’s knuckles and shushed her, her gentleness at odds with her previous fury.

“Max, no, shhh,” she said. “Your powers are their own thing, and they’re freaking awesome. So don’t go comparing yourself to anyone else, okay?”

“I don’t think I have a choice,” Max replied sullenly, “since they’ll be putting me in that arena to fight against other Metahumans soon, anyway.”

Chloe frowned again. Despite the dire situation they found themselves in, Max couldn’t help but think how cute she looked when she was worried. _Now’s not the time for that thought,_ she scolded herself.

“Well, I for one don’t plan on dying tonight. And I’m not gonna let you die either, Super Max.”

“Not sure how much choice we’ll have.”

Chloe set her jaw, a determined look on her face. She reached out and rested a hand on Max’s shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Her eyes locked with Max’s. “There’s always a choice,” she said. “We’re not gonna give up now. Not when we’re so close to catching Damon and finding Tempest. We’re gonna survive this, and make those bastards pay, and get the fuck out of here. I promise!”

Max looked into Chloe’s eyes. Where was she finding this courage? It wasn’t like she had the all-powerful Tempest backing her up anymore. Still, Chloe’s enthusiasm kindled a little warm spark of hope inside Max’s chest, too.

“How’re we gonna get out?” she asked.

“Simple,” Chloe told her. “We have to find Damon. That dickhead henchman of his said that if we do well enough in the fight, he'll take us to see him. He was probably lying, but I’m sure that if we win tonight, it’ll _definitely_ get his attention. So, that’s what we gotta do.”

“We have to win?!" Max looked at her, scandalized. "That’s... I’ve never fought anyone in my life, Chloe.”

“That’s okay. I’ve fought against enough assholes for the both of us,” Chloe said with a crooked grin. She straightened up and reached out a hand towards Max. “C’mon, I’ll teach you some of my moves!”

Max took her hand and stood up as well. The low ceiling made the cell feel even more oppressively small than when she was seated. It nearly brushed the top of Chloe’s hoodie. Chloe walked in a circle around her, as though examining Max critically, then stood by her side.

“Okay, first things first. Show me your fighting stance. Like this,” Chloe said, staggering her feet and holding her hands up in fists near her chin.

“Uhh,” Max said, shuffling her feet on the dirt floor in an attempt to imitate Chloe’s posture. “How’s this?”

“Not quite,” Chloe said. She reached out and gave Max’s shoulder a shove, causing her to stumble. As she righted herself, she felt Chloe move behind her. Strong hands placed themselves on Max’s shoulders, gently guiding her torso to rotate. She nudged Max’s ankle with the toe of her shoe, making her shuffle her foot position slightly. “Space your legs a bit wider. Bend your knees a little. That’s it,” she told her, voice bright and encouraging.

A tingling shiver ran up Max’s spine as Chloe’s breath ghosted over the back of her neck. Max looked at the ceiling and tried not to let herself get distracted by the feeling of Chloe’s warm, confident hands on her side.

Chloe gave her another push at her shoulder, only this time she was able to hold her footing steady and not stumble. Satisfied, Chloe again returned to face Max, a grin on her face. “There, not bad. This is your home base. Your stance is the foundation for everything: if you’re off balance, it means you can’t dodge or strike, and you’ll end up on the floor.”

“...I take it the floor is bad?” Max said.

“That’s right. The floor is a bad, bad place. We don’t wanna end up on the floor.” She studied Max and frowned, biting her lip. “I _would_ teach you to punch, but... I gotta be honest, Max, you’ve got about as much offensive capabilities as a wet paper towel.”

Max rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks a lot." Then she sighed. “...It’s true, though,” she admitted. Her skinny toothpick arms barely had enough strength to hold up her camera for long periods of time; let alone clock a bad guy in the face.

“But, that’s okay! Because punching is only the second most important part when it comes to winning a fight. Everybody forgets the most important thing: _not getting punched._ ” Chloe grinned. “And that, Max, is how you’re gonna win tonight.”

“By... dodging?” Max wasn’t sure her reflexes were that great, especially considering how inexperienced she was in combat.

“By using your powers!” Chloe seemed pleased with herself. “I’ve been thinking about this ever since you escaped from that bathroom with Angel. By rewinding a few seconds at a time, you can get a read on your opponent. You’ll know exactly when they’re gonna strike, so that you can easily get out of the way.” She grinned from ear to ear. “You’re like the ultimate unpredictable fighter!”

“Huh...” Max hadn’t really considered that; but she’d been envisioning her powers in a non-combat setting. It made sense that Chloe, with all her experience getting into fights, would have different ideas on how to implement Max’s abilities.

“I’m going to punch you now.”

“What—” Max started to say, before a fist collided with her face.

White stars bloomed against a field of black as Max staggered backwards, head spinning as she registered that Chloe had just hit her. She covered her right eye with her hand, where she could feel the blood pounding underneath the skin. She was sure she’d have a nice shiner of a black eye soon. She opened her other eye and shot Chloe a glare. “What was that for?!”

“Shit! Sorry Max,” Chloe said. “I thought you were gonna rewind.”

“A little more warning next time!”

Chloe set her jaw. “I _did_ give you a warning,” she said, crossing her arms. “You’re not gonna get that in a real fight. I’m sorry I hit you, though,” she said, and she did look genuinely apologetic.

Max wiped an arm across her mouth and straightened her fighting stance. Chloe was right: she wouldn’t get nearly as much time to react in a real right.

 _Time..._ right, of course. That was her biggest advantage, after all.

“Do it again,” Max told her.

“Are you sure? We can stop if you need a break,” Chloe said.

“I’m sure.” Max raised her arms in guard again. “Come at me.”

“Okay,” Chloe said. She squared up her fists by the sides of her face and approached Max, the two of them slowly circling each other on the dirt floor. Max watched her closely, attentive for any sudden movements or tells so that she’d know when to rewind. Chloe, seeing Max watching her, caught her gaze for a moment, flashing her a quick smile and a wink. It made Max’s heart flutter in her chest.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw it: the flex of Chloe’s bicep pressing against the dark fabric of her hoodie. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, Max reached for her Rewind as soon as she registered the tell. Time spun backwards for a fraction of a second, allowing her to step out of the way just as the _whoosh_ of Chloe’s punch sped past where her torso had been a moment ago. Chloe looked back and forth, disoriented at first, and then a wide grin spread across her face.

“Hell yeah, Max! Now that’s what I’m talking about! That was awesome!” Her praise made pride well up within Max’s chest. “Now, though, I just wanna make sure...”

This time, Max knew seconds before the punch arrived. She rewound and took a step backwards, allowing Chloe’s fist to pass harmlessly into the space where she’d been standing.

Chloe chuckled under her breath. “Holy shit, I knew it,” she said. “It’s like, now you see Max, now you don’t.” She rubbed her palms together with glee. “I’m telling you, those assholes in the ring aren’t gonna know what hit ‘em.”

As quickly as it came, Max’s newfound confidence turned sour. Her shoulders slumped and her guard dropped. “I don’t know, Chloe,” she said with a sigh. “I can dodge, but how am I supposed to _win_? I can’t just avoid punches forever. I’ll run out of Rewind eventually.” She felt no shortage of her power now, but her past experience told her she couldn’t necessarily count on it forever.

“I got some ideas for that, too,” said Chloe. “Like I said, I don’t think trying to punch them is gonna get you anywhere. You’d probably just break your wrist, instead.”

Max gave a sigh. “Yeah,” she admitted.

“So that’s why I’m gonna teach you some moves that don’t rely on being stronger than the other guy. Stuff like...” Chloe held out the side of her shoe and pantomimed scraping it down the front of Max’s shin. “Nobody has muscles on top of their shin. So if you kick or rake that, it’s gonna hurt no matter how tough they are.”

“Is that why you wear combat boots?” Max asked.

“Yeppers,” Chloe said, stretching her arms one after the other and rolling out a crick in her neck. “Next, there’s...” she brought her open palm blade up towards Max’s throat, stopping it right before it made impact with her windpipe. “A quick chop to the throat, that's gonna slow anyone down. If you’re lucky, you can make them cough and close their eyes, which will give you an opening. And _then,_ ” she continued, circling around to behind Max, “while they’re disoriented, lock their legs like _this_ and they’ll trip and fall onto the floor.” She intertwined her front leg with Max’s rear one, and gave her a shove with their combined body weight.

Before she could realize it, Max felt herself overbalancing. She nearly lost all coordination and planted herself face-first on the ground, when Chloe’s strong arm wrapped around her body, steadying them both. Max recovered and replaced her feet firmly on the ground, breathing heavily.

“The trick is to use their own weight against them,” Chloe explained, her body still pressed against Max’s back. Max had to pretend to not be hyper-conscious of the shared heat in between them. “Whoever it is, they’re bound to be way, way heavier than you, so that’s the best way to knock ‘em down.” Her hands shifted so that they were resting on Max’s shoulders. _Goddamn, she’s tactile,_ Max thought to herself.

“Once you’ve got them on the floor, then you can end it,” Chloe explained. “You can kick ‘em in the balls, or step on their throat, or punt them in the head.” Max winced at the violent actions Chloe was suggesting. As though she could sense Max’s discomfort, Chloe changed her tone of voice: “...Or, you could just wrap them up and make 'em take a nice little afternoon nap.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked, glanced backwards over her shoulder at Chloe.

Rather than answering, Chloe’s arms wrapped around Max’s torso again. At first, it felt like she was giving her head a hug. Then, Chloe’s forearm pressed up against her windpipe, while her other hand gently pushed down on Max’s head. Although she wasn’t applying much pressure, Max found it difficult to move or breathe, locked in the hold like this.

“This is a sleeper hold,” Chloe explained. Max felt her bicep flex by the side of her head, squeezing Max a little tighter. “Very effective way to knock somebody out. Keep one hand on your bicep, the other on the back of their head. You don’t even gotta press very hard, and you’ll cut off all oxygen from the rest of their body. They might struggle at first, but it’ll become harder and harder for them to resist without breathing. Keep it up for a minute, and the oxygen deprivation will knock them out. Just make sure not to hold them for much longer than that,” Chloe warned, “or else they might never wanna wake up again.”

Max shivered, despite the warm press of Chloe’s arms around her. She released her from the hold. “Here, now do me.”

“You sure?” Max asked her.

“Positive,” said Chloe. She turned her back to Max, even bending her knees to give Max a better angle. Max tried to wrap her arms around Chloe’s neck, like she’d shown. At Chloe’s gentle prompting, she corrected her arm positions. She wasn’t even sure if it was working initially, until she heard a high-pitched whine escape from Chloe and felt a frantic tapping at her side.

“Oh!” Max exclaimed, releasing Chloe from the hold. Chloe stumbled forward, taking a deep breath of air, and looked at Max with a mixture of pride and wariness in her eyes.

“You— you got it, all right,” Chloe told her, voice punctuated by gasping breaths. Max realized that she’d managed to completely cut off Chloe’s air, without really even trying.

“Goddamn,” Max said, in awe of what she’d managed to do. “That might be a little _too_ effective...”

“Not— when it counts,” Chloe said. She caught her breath and looked up at Max again, the smile returned to her eyes. "You learn quickly, my pupil.”

“Only ‘cause I’ve got the best teacher ever,” Max replied, returning her smile.

“I suppose I’ve picked up a trick or two, over the years,” Chloe said, clearly basking in the praise.

From then on, Chloe continued drilling her on self-defense tactics, while Max practiced using her Rewind to dodge Chloe’s strikes and grabs. She found it was actually fairly easy to activate, once she got the hang of it. Chloe was right: her power gave her a nearly-limitless supply of the most important resource in any fight, which was time. Max found that just by taking a few steps to the side and then rewinding, it was an easy way to disorient her opponent and throw them off-guard.

Several minutes into a game of what Chloe had fondly dubbed “catch-the-Max”, she’d become so adept at rewinding out of harm’s way that Chloe had started to look a little bit annoyed.

“Would you just — hold still and — let me win for once?” She said between panting breaths.

Max giggled and rewound so that she was just out of reach of Chloe’s grasping hands. “No can do,” she teased. “I’m pretty sure _you_ said that the most important thing is not getting hit. I’m just following your teachings, O sensei.”

Chloe rested her hands above her knees and sat down on the floor, catching her breath. “Goddamn, it’s like trying to catch a video game glitch, with how you’re clipping all over the place and everything.”

“Really?” She couldn’t see what her power looked like from the outside. “So, it looks like I’m teleporting?”

Chloe nodded. “It’s more noticeable if you’re moving than when you’re standing still. Though I can still notice, if I’m watching you closely. Your outline kinda jitters a little. It’s pretty subtle though.”

“Huh...”

“Yeah, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that your power was teleportation, not time travel.” She appeared to consider this for a second. “Hey, actually, we could use that to our advantage...”

Max gave her a curious look. “How?”

“Well, as of right now, nobody besides us knows the true nature of your powers,” she said. “If we let them think your powers are just teleportation, then that’ll open up room for even more cool tricks you can pull. Teleporting Metahumans have been known to exist — but nobody’s ever met a time traveler before.”

 _I don’t think I even know my powers’ true nature,_ Max thought.

She stared out through the bars of their cell. “I kinda wish it really _was_ teleportation right now, though,” she said, a bit mournfully. “I could leave this cell and break us out of here.” She rattled the padlock on the door.

“Again, Max,” Chloe said, a scolding tone to her voice as if she was correcting a child’s bad habit, “Your powers rule. Don’t go comparing yourself to anybody else. Remember, if it wasn’t for those powers, I’d be dead right now. You’re hella awesome, and don’t you forget it.”

Despite the dank chill of the underground cell, a warm feeling filled Max’s chest. “Thanks, Chloe.”

“Hell yeah. That’s my job: wisecracks and moral support,” She said. “Hey, when we get outta here and save Tempest, how do you wanna celebrate? I’m thinking... cracking open a bottle of champagne on the roof of the biggest skyscraper in the city. Whaddaya say?”

Max gave an incredulous laugh, shaking her head in fond disbelief. “Even your celebration ideas sound really dangerous.”

“All right, smarty pants. Then how about...” Chloe’s eyes caught Max’s in the low light. “Dinner for two? I know a fancy-shmancy place downtown. I haven’t got much money left, but I’ve got some set aside for something like this.”

Max gave her a puzzled look. “It... kinda sounds like you’re asking me on a date,” she replied, unsure.

“And what if I was? Got a problem with that, hippie?” The curve of Chloe’s smile was barely visible in the darkness, but Max felt her eyes on her.

“N-no... but I, uh...” Max again found herself at a loss for words. Leave it to Chloe to wait to ask her out until they were both trapped in an underground pit by a mob boss.

 _Well,_ she told herself. _Might as well do something about this ginormous crush you have on her._ It felt good to finally admit to herself what she was really feeling, even if it didn’t do her much good about the situation they were in.

“All right,” she said aloud after her moment’s pause. “It’s a date.”

“Yesss!” Chloe gave a victorious fist pump in the air. “Oh, I know you’ll like this place Max. It’s super pretentious — perfect for you, you little hipster.”

“ _Hipster_ ?” Max replied, feigning offense. “What year is this, 2010? Who says _hipster_ anymore?”

“Hey, _you’re_ the time traveler.” Chloe wore a bright grin. “You tell me.”

Max was about to come up with her own witty retort — God, it was _so easy_ to talk like this with Chloe — when she heard distant footsteps approaching down the hallway. The comeback died on her tongue, along with any warm feelings that had welled up during their conversation. She was forced once again to confront cold, hard reality: that they were trapped, with almost certain death awaiting them outside the bars of their cell.

The footsteps sounded like they belonged to multiple people, and as the figures approached into the dim light of the solitary overhead bulb outside their cell, Max could see the henchman who’d first led them into the trap, flanked on either side by two burly enforcers. The men looked to be equally as wide as they were tall, and they each carried long, heavy-looking objects in one hand. After a moment, she recognized they were carrying electrified cattle prods.

The sickening sense of fear returned to the pit of Max’s stomach. The henchman banged on their cell door with his cattle prod. Then he gripped the bars and inserted his face in the gap between them, a look of wild-eyed glee in his eyes as he observed Max and Chloe each in turn.

“Time’s up, ladies. Freak,” he said, addressing Max. “We got a big audience in the house tonight, and they’re itching for one hell of a show. Ya better get ready to deliver.”

Chloe spat on the floor in his direction. “Fuck you,” She retorted, venomously. “We’re not here for your entertainment, you sick fuck.”

“Oh, really? ‘Cause I’m feeling pretty entertained right now.” He crossed his arms, letting the cattle prod dangle conspicuously; an implied threat. “But don’t worry. This is a show, all right? The audience likes a good spectacle. So that’s why we’re happy to oblige.” Having said this, he tossed a bundle of cloth under the narrow gap between the bars and onto the cell floor.

Max reached for the pile of clothing and extracted something unexpected: a cape and a mask, the latter not too dissimilar from the one she already wore. This one looked somewhat different, though: the face piece was larger than a simple strip of cloth, shaped of bendy black plastic, and appeared to have been cut in the shape of a butterfly. _Oh,_ she realized. _They must’ve made that because Chloe told them my name was Black Butterfly..._

“See, most of our audience wants nothing more than to see those high-an’-mighty Heroes get their faces kicked in,” the thug continued. “But, since real ones are so often in short supply, we gotta make do. So, you two’ll be our stand-in Heroes for tonight.”

Chloe reached into the pile of clothes as well and withdrew a familiar-looking mask. Black eyeholes were cut out of a long, curved beak, with feathers on either side. “What the...” she said, turning the Crow mask around in her hands. “How did you guys—”

The henchman gave a dark, sinister cackle. “You think the boss didn’t figure out who you were, Crow? He’s known your so-called secret identity for _months_ . He told me he’s been dying to bring you some payback, ‘specially after you and your _other_ freak friend tried to kill him at the old sawmill.”

Chloe lunged towards him at the mention of Rachel, grabbing the bars of the cell and shoving her face up directly next to his. “Where is she?!” She demanded. “Tell me where Tempest is, _now_!”

The thug continued to laugh darkly. “Uh-uh,” he said, swinging his metal baton to hit Chloe’s knuckles with a nasty-sounding CRACK. She let out a yelp of pain and recoiled from the cell door. “You’re not in any position to make demands, Crow. And this time, your _friend_ isn’t gonna come save you.” He then eyeballed Max. “This one your replacement freak? Talk about a downgrade. I’ll be surprised if it even lasts a minute in the pit.”

“Careful what you’re saying,” growled Chloe. “Black Butterfly’s more powerful than she looks. She’ll kick your ass if you don’t watch your mouth.”

“Oh, yeah?” He looked smug. “Then how come it hasn’t tried? Look at it: poor thing’s practically pissing itself out of fear. Pathetic,” he scoffed at Max, who indeed was crouched on the floor, frozen in terror. “Almost makes me feel bad about what’s about to come. Almost. But you bitches thought you could swindle Damon Merrick, so now you gotta pay the price.”

“Whatever,” Chloe snapped, rolling her eyes. “Are you done monologuing yet? Cuz I get it, you’re evil. Just do it already. You’ve kept us waiting long enough.”

That provoked another cruel laugh from him. “Ha ha! Listen to her. Crow thinks she can backtalk me from where she is.”

“I can, and I will,” Chloe returned. “Let’s just skip all this cage fighting nonsense. Let me out right now and I will _personally_ kick your ass.”

“Those are some big words, coming from a punching bag,” the Henchman shot back. “Oh, but hey, this one’s got kind of a pretty face on her. Maybe if I ask nicely, they’ll leave that intact and only break the rest of you.”

Chloe gave a furious hiss between her teeth. She pulled on her Crow mask and glared out from the eyeholes defiantly.

The henchman clapped his hands in a signal to the two beefy bodyguards on either side of him. “Okay, time to escort tonight’s main course to the dinner table. ‘Cause we got a lotta hungry bellies in the house tonight.”

“Dude. Gross,” Chloe said, but he ignored her.

Max watched closely as one of the henchmen held out a ring of keys and reached for the padlock on her cell. _This could be our chance,_ she thought. _I can make a break for it as soon as the door opens—_

“Hold up a sec,” came the Henchman’s barking orders, and Max froze. He pointed his stun baton at her. “Don’t trust this one, she’s got powers. I got a feeling she’s gonna try something as soon as she has the chance.” He crosses his arms and grinned. “How about we never give her that chance?”

“ _No!!”_ came Chloe’s panicked cry, as the guard pressed his baton into Max’s forearm and switched it on.

A splitting, paralytic pain coursed through her entire body. Max spasmed as her legs gave out from underneath her. As her eyes shut, the last thing she heard was Chloe’s alarmed shouting, and the burly arms of the guards lifting her body off the floor and carrying it out of the room.

\---

The sound of ocean waves roaring assaulted Max's ears as she groggily regained consciousness.

 _The ocean?_ That... couldn't be right. Her eyes still closed, she felt the floor underneath her: cold, rough, hard, and covered in sand and dirt particles. Where was she...?

The roar grew louder as her senses returned to her. Every muscle in her body ached as she pushed herself up into a seated position. Colors swam behind her eyes, and there was something itchy pressing into her face. She reached up to touch the bridge of her nose, and her fingers met hard plastic. The black butterfly mask was still attached to her face.

As she opened her eyes, allowing light in, she saw metal bars and a wire fence before her. A blinding spotlight shone down on her from above, forcing her to squint and worsening the headache pounding in her skull. Opening her eyes more fully, she looked through the chain-link fence and saw what lay beyond.

She was sitting on the concrete floor of a metal cage that was attached to the fighting arena. An iron gate separated her from the circular pit in the center. Similar cages surrounded the Arena at all sides, and within them, Max could make out several other humanoid shapes, at least four others from what she could see. Could they be other metahumans?

The source of the roaring sound was not the ocean as she'd thought, but rather hundreds of people sitting in the bleachers that towered above and looked down on the Arena. Her ears were assaulted with a barrage of cheers, boos, and hisses. Suddenly realizing that she was in plain view of everybody, Max scrambled to her feet. She felt eyes on her at all sides. Helpless, panicked, and disoriented, she scanned the Arena, searching for any sign of Chloe.

"Max!" cried a familiar voice from nearby. Max's gaze snapped towards the sound, and she spotted Chloe in a cage on the opposite side of the arena. As soon as she made eye contact with Max, she gave a shout and rattled the iron bars of her cage. Her struggles were to no avail, however, as the door remained firmly shut tight.

A booming voice echoed down from above the arena, overwhelming the noise of the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen," came the voice. " _So_ glad you all could make it. I hope you're ready for a hell of a show tonight. Place your bets now, because things are about to get _brutal_."

Max squinted up through the floodlights to see if she could locate the speaker. There: just below the circular walkway, she spotted a VIP box that was wrapped in more chain-link fencing, with a window in the middle. The loudspeakers were mounted on either side of the box. At such a high angle, and with the lights overhead blinding her, it was hard for Max to see inside. She could pick out the indistinct shapes of two human figures, but couldn't discern anything more. Then, the man holding the microphone leaned out over the balcony, and she got a clear look at his face. Tribal tattoos snaked down his arms, and he gazed down over the crowd with the prideful expression of a king surveying his kingdom. Even at such a distance, looking at his face, she realized there was no way this person could be anybody other than Damon Merrick.

"We have a special treat for you folks," continued Damon. "Tonight, we have one of New Arcadia's very own Heroes in the pit. What do we say to that?"

A barrage of furious boos and jeers echoed up from the crowd in response, and Max realized he must be referring to her. She winced at the noise and squinted up through the light to peer at the audience. The people she could make out seemed mostly to be men, of the muscular skinhead lowlife sort, and none of them seemed at all sympathetic to her plight. In fact, they all seemed eager to watch her get beaten up.

"You guys are in luck. You're about to witness history in the making," Damon proclaimed. "The downfall of the Hero Association begins tonight, in this very arena. Who's excited?"

The crowd cheered more loudly, as icy cold fear pooled in the pit of Max's stomach. Damon continued, "Ah, but before we can have our main course, we've got a special appetizer for you all." Max heard the sound of rattling chains as the iron door of Chloe's cage lifted up. There was a snap of an electric cattle prod as she was forced into the arena.

"Some of you may recognize Crow as a traitor and an enemy of our organization. Well, folks, here she is today, and she's about to learn why you should never, _ever_ mess with us."

Judging by the boos from the crowd, Crow was indeed infamous. The beak of her mask pointed to one side, then the other as she crouched low in a battle stance, ready for an attack on all sides.

"I hope you placed your bets carefully, because this could be over very quickly," Damon said. "Crow used to team up with a metahuman to win all her battles for her. But without her pals, and without any powers of her own, she likely won't last very long. Odds are 20 to 1 against. Who's willing to take that bet?"

Another rattling sound filled the arena as a second door lifted up. Shouldering his way out from underneath the door was a thuggish man with a crooked-nosed face, who looked to be around twice Crow's weight and had at least four inches of height on her. He cracked his knuckles and twitched the muscles in his arms, grinning to reveal several gold teeth.

Crow looked unfazed, however. She rubbed her palms together, bounced on the tips of her toes and tilted her head at her opponent, as though challenging him to do his worst.

The bell above the arena rang, signalling the start of the fight. The thug gave a roar of anger and charged straight at Crow, hands outstretched to grab her. But Crow, reading his movements, danced backwards out of his reach. With blinding fast reflexes, she brought her leg up and kicked him in the lower stomach with her combat boots. The man gave a grunt, but the one blow wasn't enough to deter him from swinging his fists right at Crow's head. She ducked underneath his sluggish punches and delivered a second kick, this time straight to his knee. The man stumbled in response, and there was a loud CRACK as Crow's boot again collided, this time with his face.

Breathing heavily, the man pushed himself back up to his feet, blood streaming from his newly re-broken nose. Rage burned within his eyes as he glared at her, furious at being humiliated. His broken nose left a trail of blood drops on the arena floor beneath him. Crow took several steps backwards until her back pressed up against the wire mesh walls of the ring. Thinking he had her pinned at last, the thug began to charge again. But Crow had anticipated that, too. Just as he was about to collide with her, she stepped aside and ducked down, sending him crashing headfirst into the wall of the arena. Then, in the blink of an eye, she entangled her leg with his knee, tripping him and sending him down to the floor with a CRASH. A loud thud echoed throughout the arena as his head collided with the concrete floor. Stillness reigned for a moment, before the bell rang again and the fight was over.

A stunned silence echoed throughout the arena, before it was filled with boos and shouts of rage from audience members upset at losing their bets. Chloe, apparently loving this, turned towards the crowd and flipped them off with both hands. She didn't even seem to have broken much of a sweat. Pausing in her boast, she looked back towards Max's cage and gave her a wink and a thumbs-up, as if to say, _we got this._

"Well, folks, against all odds, it looks as though Crow has won... for now," drawled Damon, and Max noted that he didn't sound as surprised as the rest of the audience. "Of course, that was just the appetizer. Let's put our Anti-Hero back in her cage for now, and the _real_ freak show can begin."

Guards armed with tasers entered the ring. One of them dragged the unconscious body of the thug out, while the other rounded on Chloe. She swore at him and tried to dodge out of the way, but took a taser jolt to the side and fell to the ground with a shout. Max watched helplessly as she was dragged back to her cage and the metal door rattled shut.

"Now, we all know that it's not fair how these _metahumans_ have powers that the rest of us don't," said Damon. "They think they're better than us. They think they deserve to be richer and more powerful and decide what happens in our city. Well, that won't be true for much longer. Because we finally have a way to even the score!"

Another cage door rattled open, and a man stepped out. This one was tall and wiry, with skinny limbs that held sinewy muscles underneath. Ferocious-looking tattoos covered much of his skin, and he wore a goatee and short cropped hair. His metal piercings gleamed in the floodlights.

"Pike here has been loyal to our organization for many years. So as a reward, he gets to be one of the first to get a taste of what _real_ power feels like," said Damon. As he said that, one of the other henchmen approached Pike and handed him something tiny that fit between his thumb and forefinger. Pike held up for the crowd to see: a small, red-and-white pill. He then placed it inside of his mouth and swallowed.

Immediately, Pike hunched over and covered his face with his hands. As close as she was, Max could see him trembling. A hush fell over the crowd as everybody watched expectantly for what would happen next. Eventually, his trembling stopped, and he straightened up again. He reared back with a shout that was more like a roar, which echoed throughout the walls of the arena. As he lifted his head, Max saw it: the man's irises, and even the inside of his mouth, were radiating a bright white light.

Max gasped. _Vortex!_

"Using Vortex," explained Damon, "the rest of us can harness the power that the metahumans have been keeping all to themselves. And boy, is it a hell of a drug!" Pike flexed, and Max could see glowing white lines of Vortex passing through the veins of his arms. His muscles seemed to bulge, making him appear taller. Stronger. Faster. More dangerous than before.

"And now, you lucky folks get to see it all in action. Watch how the power of Vortex allows any of us to stand up to any one of them. It's time for us to turn their own powers against them and take back everything they took from us. Are you ready?!"

The crowd roared, and Max heard the rattle of another cage door opening. Icy cold fear shot through her as she saw the door of her own cell lifted up. An electric cattle prod was stuck between the bars of the cell behind her, forcing her out into the arena. As the iron door dropped down behind her with a loud CLANG, she found herself staring up at the Vortex-enhanced Pike opposite her in the arena. Fear and adrenaline pumped through her bloodstream.

"Black Butterfly here thinks she's a Hero," sneered Damon. "She wants to become yet another rich, greedy poster child for the media. Well, tonight, we're going to take that little dream of hers, and crush it right in front of her face. Then, we'll crush her face."

"NO!!" shouted Chloe from her cage, rattling her bars. "Get out of there, Max! Run!"

Max really, really wanted to run. But on all sides, all she could see was steel wire and iron bars blocking her exit. Pike seemed to be staring at her like one would a particularly juicy steak, his glowing eyes fixed on her and his tongue lolling like a dog's.

The bell rang to signal the start of the fight. In that moment, time felt like it was slowing down. Max remembered Chloe's words: _They don't know what your powers are. That's your main advantage. That's how you'll win tonight._ She thought about all the exercises and training and self-defense tricks that Chloe had showed her in their cell. And she remembered Chloe's promise to take her out on a date when this was all over.

 _That's right,_ Max thought. _All I have to do is follow everything she told me, and we'll win tonight._

She was thinking these things when she felt a whoosh of air against her face, and then Pike's fist connected with her stomach, slamming her back against the mesh fence.

Max gasped and choked as the wind got knocked out of her. When had he started to move? She thought she'd been watching him the whole time. His movements were so much faster than the last guy's, faster even than Chloe's. Now, he towered over her as she gripped the fence behind her to keep her body upright. His glowing eyes peered down at her with a mocking aura. He was just toying with her. He was the predator and she was his prey.

"Ouch! Guess somebody's not so Heroic, after all," came Damon Merrick's mocking announcer voice. If anybody in the audience was disturbed by a much larger man beating up on a seemingly defenseless girl, none of them showed it. Max's only ally was trapped in her own cell, rattling the bars of her cage and shouting, "Max! Max, can you hear me? You gotta get up!"

Chloe's voice pierced through her delirium. She snapped to alertness just in time to see Pike taking a step back. If she took another blow like that one, she probably couldn't remain standing. She wasn't about to let that happen.

Max held out her right hand. Pike's attention snapped to it, but only for a moment, as Max began to reverse time.

As she rewound, she walked a semicircle around Pike. That was something else she'd worked on in training: moving _during_ a rewind. It took slightly more concentration to pull off, but she was able to move herself so that she was right behind Pike, just as he was about to lunge and plant his fist in her solar plexus. Max set her heel firmly in the floor, interlocking it with his ankle, and released her Rewind.

Pike tripped, crashing down onto the floor like a ton of bricks, and the crowd gave a collective gasp. Even Damon seemed shocked into silence for a moment; the only sound came from Chloe's cell, where she cried out "Yesss!" and pumped her fist in success.

Her victory celebration was short-lived, however. In as much time as it took Max to inhale and exhale again, she felt Pike's body shift from the floor, and suddenly wiry, muscular arms were grabbing her from behind. A strength greater than that of any normal human pulled her arms back painfully, while a second hand wrapped itself around her neck. Max choked while Pike grinned and pushed harder.

"You're gonna regret doing that, little girl," he growled. Max felt his hot breath on the back of her neck. Any more pressure, and he would dislocate her shoulder.

She didn't know how well she could rewind if her arm was broken, and she wasn't going to wait to find out. She reversed time again, stepping out of his grab and behind him. Releasing her rewind, Pike's arms closed around the suddenly empty space where her body had been, and while he looked side to side to see where Max had gone, she followed Chloe's lead and kicked him in the back of his knee with all her strength.

This, it turned out, had an effect equivalent to kicking at a tree trunk, which is to say barely any effect at all. Pike spun around to look at her, and she rewound before he could lunge again. Tripping seemed to work the first time, so she tried again, sticking out her ankle and letting him fall over it. This time, as his body impacted the concrete, it actually got a laugh out of the audience.

"It looks like Black Butterfly's teleportation power is giving Pike a bit of trouble," observed Damon wryly. Pike pushed himself up again and spat on the ground. Any look of sadistic amusement was gone from his eyes; now, he looked straight at Max and advanced on her with purely violent intent.

She held out her hand towards him, focusing. This time, the rewind felt different: rather than time simply reversing, Max made it slow down to an almost-stop. Pike moved towards her in slow motion, his eyes leaving glowing tracks in the air behind him. Max found she could move normally through this space, although keeping the slow-mo going was like balancing a bucket of water on her head.

Concentrating, she stepped towards Pike and targeted the areas Chloe told her to: a flat-hand chop to the windpipe, a swift kick to the knee and a rake to the outer shin, and finally a well-placed knee to the groin. Even though her strikes weren't that powerful on their own, because she was moving at quadruple the speed of a normal human, their enhanced velocity made them land with far greater impact than they would have otherwise.

As she released her slow-mo, Pike gave a choking noise and stumbled. She saw her opportunity: she locked her leg around his wobbly knee and gave him a push from behind. His own momentum carried him forward, crashing onto the ground for a third time. Then Max was on him, pinning his arms beneath her knees and wrapping his head up in a sleeper hold, cutting off all his oxygen.

Pike struggled beneath her, and Max thought with his enhanced strength he might throw her off, but then his protestations grew weaker and weaker until he stopped moving entirely as the white light faded from his eyes. She released her hold on his limp body and straightened up, taking deep gulps of air as she caught her breath. The ringing of the bell signalled the fight was done.

The audience's reaction was explosive. Cheers and jeers alike mingled in the air as she stood over the gangster's unconscious body. By the sounds of it, very few had expected her to win; the stunned silence emanating from Damon's announcer booth was proof enough of that.

"Wooohooooo! That's my Max!" came Chloe's enthusiastic cheering from her cage.

The silver taste of adrenaline filled her mouth and fuzzed her senses. She felt light and floaty, but also ready to collapse at any moment. That slow-mo trick had left her with a hell of a headache. As she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, it came away smeared with blood. More blood dripped from her nose onto the concrete.

 _Ah fuck,_ she thought eloquently. She was nearly at her limit.

Damon cleared his throat, and a hush fell over the crowd again. He leaned out the balcony window, and this time looked directly at Max. "Well then," he said, "it seems we underestimated this little wanna-be Hero. If this was a test, I think we can all agree she passed. So tell me, Black Butterfly: how would you like a job apart from the Heroes? I can think of ways to put your skills to better use than parading around the city streets in some ridiculous outfit."

Between Max's hazy thoughts, she registered that Damon was offering her something. She squinted up at him, shielding her eyes from the floodlights and trying to ignore her pounding headache. Behind Damon, another darkened figure got to its feet and appeared to be watching her closely as well.

"Um," Max replied eloquently. _Think, Max, think. What was the reason you came down here?_ Her gaze flicked over to Chloe, who was staring her at a wide-eyed expression, as though urging her telepathically to make the right choice. Her thoughts cleared as she realized what she needed to say.

"Okay," Max said to Damon. "I'll join you. On two conditions."

"With a talent like yours? I wonder what those conditions could be," drawled Damon as he leaned in towards her. "Money? Fancy clothes and jewelry? Or maybe... an expensive camera? I can get any of those for you."

Max shook her head. She pointed at Chloe's cage. "First, I want you to set my friend free."

Damon flipped his hand, and Chloe's cage door rattled open. She scrambled out, into the arena, and wrapped her arms around Max immediately. "Max! You're awesome!"

Max smiled at her for a moment, then turned her attention back up to where Damon was seated.

"Your friend is free," he said, a bored expression on her face. "What was your other request?"

Max took a deep breath. "I need..." she looked Damon right in the eyes. "I need you to tell me where to find Tempest."

A gasp swept through the crowd. Instead of answering right away, Damon stepped back from the balcony. He appeared to be having a hushed conversation with the other person seated in the booth. Finally, he returned to the balcony.

"Well, this _is_ a special night," he began. He looked down at Max and Chloe. "I'll agree to your terms, and tell you everything I know about Tempest... on one condition of my own." Chloe and Max exchanged a look. What was he talking about...?

"...You see," Damon continued, "I am nothing if not a businessman. And these people paid good money to be here and see some Metahumans fight, so... I want to make sure they get their money's worth."

Damon clapped his hands, and a familiar rattling sound filled the arena again as another cage door opened.

Stumbling out into the arena with them was a young man. In contrast to Damon's other men, he was neither particularly tall nor tough-looking. In fact, he was nondescript in practically every single way. He stood up to his full, average height and looked at them with his average face. Chloe gave an astonished gasp of recognition.

"No freakin' way," she said. " _Eliot?_ "

Eliot looked surprised, too. "I know that voice," he said, narrowing his eyes to peer at them curiously. "...Chloe Price? Is that you?"

To Max's surprise, Chloe lifted the crow mask off her face. "Yeah," she said.

Eliot gave an incredulous laugh. "Oh, no way... this is so weird. Um, hi."

Max looked in between her and the man standing opposite them, confusion across her face. "Chloe, do you know this guy?"

"Kinda..." Chloe dropped her voice low. "We both went to Blackwell... um, years ago, before I y'know, dropped out. We were friends... sort of."

"I was your _only_ friend," said Eliot. "Back when your dad died and Max and everybody else left you, I was the one who--"

"Shut up!" Chloe cut him off. "You were not! You didn't really care about me. You were just playing the nice-guy card so you could get in my pants! Spoiler alert: it didn't work!"

"Don't say it like that," protested Eliot. "We had some good times together. You're just selectively choosing to remember what you want. Rachel did that to you, when she convinced you to drop out and tear your own life apart."

"You know _nothing_ about her. About us," protested Chloe. She shook her head. "Never mind all that. Why the _fuck_ are you here, Eliot?"

To her surprise, Eliot laughed. His voice echoed across the arena, and Max felt a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Ah, well, it's a funny story about that..." He strode out into the center of the ring. Max took an involuntary step back and reached out to grab Chloe's wrist for comfort. "You see, I realized something about this world. It really is unequal. Some people are born with it all, and some of us... aren't." He pointed to Max. "Look at her. Did she _earn_ those superpowers? No! But now she's way stronger than any of us could ever hope to be, just because she was born with something. Something that I lack!"

"Tough shit," said Chloe. "Look, are you just gonna bitch and moan at us? 'Cause look, I haven't got powers, either. I never even wanted them. And now look at me: I'm still the shit. You just gotta fix your shitty mindset, dude."

Eliot smiled a crooked smile. "I tried that. But then I found something better. I didn't need to fix my mindset, after all. Because, now... I could fix the other thing. I could get powers of my very own."

"You mean, using Vortex?" Chloe said with a scoff. "'Cause that's not permanent. Shit's temporary. And you saw what Max did to that guy. He was as tough as they come, and on Vortex too, and she beat his ass anyway. Just face it, dude: you're not special, and you never will be."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said Eliot softly, reaching into his pocket. From out of it he produced a syringe, the contents of which glowed with a bright white light.

"What," said Chloe, "the fuck is that."

"Something new," said Eliot. "Something that'll change me forever. Make me stronger than anyone. Stronger than you, and her, and stronger than Tempest!" He held the needle against his arm. "I'll be the strongest of them all!"

"No—" Chloe started to say, but it was too late. Eliot depressed the plunger, and all of the glowing white liquid disappeared inside his arm.

For a moment, a stillness filled the arena, as Chloe and Max and all of the spectators held their breath and awaited a reaction. Eliot stood in a hunched over position, needle still in his arm, unmoving.

"Is he..." Chloe breathed. She didn't finish the sentence, but Max knew where she was going. Neither of them could take their eyes off the unmoving form of Eliot, with the syringe sticking out of his arm.

The earth rumbled underneath their feet. At first Max thought it was a train passing by; they were still underground, after all. But then as the rumbling grew louder, and cracks began to appear in the concrete foundation of the arena, she realized that it wasn't the train. The cracks were radiating outward from where Eliot stood. He slowly lifted his head from its hunched-over position, and Max could see that from within his eyes, his nose, his mouth, and even the pores of his skin, a bright white light was shining out. It coursed through the veins beneath his skin, down his legs to the socks with sandals that he wore on his feet.

Before their eyes, Eliot began to grow. And grow. Muscles bulged outwards from his body, ripping his polo shirt to shreds. Fur began rapidly sprouting from his forearms and then the rest of his body, at first dark brown in color and then quickly fading to grey and then to white. Cruel-looking black claws burst from his hands and feet, tearing through his socks. His face was perhaps the most grotesque transformation; they could almost hear the straining and snapping of muscle fibers as the bones underneath restructured themselves, reconfiguring his face into a canine snout, complete with sharp teeth. A third, glowing white eye opened in the center of his forehead. White fur sprouted across his whole face as he let out an unearthly howl of pain and fury.

"He's—" Chloe gripped Max's arm, unable to stop from gawping at the transformation. "He's turning into a monster!"

"It's just like before," Max breathed. "In the street outside the Doe & Fawn Café. The same—"

"Yeah, Max, I get it!" Chloe said. She tugged at her arm in panic. "We gotta go! How can we get out?"

Max looked all around them, at the fifteen-foot-tall wire mesh fence. Even if they could climb it without the monster getting them, they would still need to deal with the barbed wire at the top. And the only other way into or out of the arena was through the cages, which were presently locked tight.

" _Shit!_ " Chloe swore. Max risked a glance up towards Damon, who was sitting on his balcony with a smug expression on his face. _That bastard. This was his plan all along, in case the other ways of killing us didn't work!_

Monster-Eliot now seemed to have completed much of his transformation, although he was still growing larger and larger. His glowing white eyes fixed them with a predator's stare, and he teetered forwards, crashing his clawed hands into the ground to support his newly top-heavy body. His toothy maw opened, and glowing saliva dripped onto the floor.

"Cnnnhhh ffyyyy hhrrrrr," he — or rather, it — said in a wheezing rumble, its deformed face no longer capable of forming words. The effect was deeply disturbing.

It raised a massive, clawed hand to swipe at them, and Max had the sense to shout, "Chloe, look out!" as they both dodged backwards. This seemed to further enrage it, and it turned to face them again. Its toothy maw lunged towards Chloe, sharp teeth threatening to snap around her neck, but she ducked down and rolled away to one side, sending its unwieldy body mass careening into the wire fence walls of the arena. The fence creaked, denting outward, and Max suddenly realized how they were going to escape.

"Chloe!" Max called. "We have to make it break the arena! Then we can get free!"

Chloe glanced towards her and nodded. Then she sprinted at the wall and climbed up, lacing her fingers between the wires so that she clung to the exterior, about four feet off the ground.

"Hey, Eliot!" she shouted, and the monster turned its head towards her. "If you're still in there, I want you to listen a sec. Do you know _why_ I chose Rachel, and not you?"

Eliot's jaw worked itself, trying to form words again. "Hrffff snnn heeeeeee?" it whined.

"No, you goddamn incel," she said. "It wasn't 'cause she manipulated me into it. And it's not 'cause she had powers, either." Monster-Eliot was frozen, watching her closely, and its ears appeared to be perked up, attuned to what she was saying. "It's because she treated me like a _person_ , not a project or a prize. Because she didn't think she was entitled to sex as a _reward_ for being my friend. And _because_ ," she took a deep breath, then shouted right in its face, "I'M FREAKING GAY, YOU IGNORANT SACK OF SHIT!"

Eliot gave a roar of rage, and charged at Chloe. But she was ready, and saw it coming. Just as the monster was bearing down on her, claws and fangs bared, she kicked off the wall, placing her boot firmly in the middle of its forehead, right on top of its third eye. She vaulted off the top of its head and slid down its back, landing in a crouch as Eliot crashed through the wall behind her, sharp claws shredding the mesh fence like paper.

As the monster broke through the side of the arena, the crowd dispersed, screaming and running away. High up above, Damon Merrick got to his feet and opened the door, stepping outside of the VIP box and calmly descending downwards towards the pit while guests ran up past him, screaming.

Monster-Eliot, having recovered from crashing through the arena wall, turned to face Max and Chloe once again, snorting and drooling and shaking with rage. It continued to grow, muscles bulging and white hair getting shaggier, and it now stood in between them and freedom.

"Okay, Max," Chloe said, breathing heavily. "I'll distract it while you run to safety—"

"No, Chloe," Max told her. She couldn't let Chloe risk her life any more than she'd already done. "I can distract him and get to safety using my Rewind. You need to worry about yourself — and Damon."

"Oh. Right," Chloe said, her gaze flicking towards the VIP box, which now appeared empty. "Wait, where did he—"

Eliot howled and lunged at them, causing them each to scatter in opposite directions. "Go, Chloe!" Max shouted at her, and Chloe took the hint. Then Max looked up, and found the monster's three-eyed stare looking back at her.

"Okay," she breathed, trying to keep her knees from giving out underneath her due to exhaustion and fear. She had just a little time power left -- so she'd better make it count. The monster advanced towards her, a low growl rumbling through its chest.

Max tried to keep her stance firm: knees bent, arms in front of her face. She looked the monster in its three eyes and spoke in a voice that trembled only slightly, "I don't know you. But based on what Chloe said about you, I don't like you very much either. A-and I feel like now, how you look on the outside reflects the monster inside. Whatever you had hoped to accomplish today, you did the opposite of that. You only ruined your life... a-and... if you ever wanted Chloe... you'll never have her." Max set her jaw firmly and glared straight into its eyes. "Because Chloe is _mine_ , do you hear me? _Mine!_ "

That did the trick. Eliot roared with rage, teeth bared, charging towards Max. Just inches from its jaws closing around her skull, Max held out her hand and time slowed to a near-stop. All sound around her ceased, and the world became enveloped in a ringing stillness. Slowly, with great concentration, Max ducked underneath its savage claws and moved towards the torn-open gap in the fence. It was like pushing her whole body through water, or syrup; and every step she took, the agonizing headache in her temple grew. It felt like lead weights were pulling backwards on her. She took one step, then another, putting more and more distance between herself and the monster. Finally, she reached the edge of the arena nearest to the gap in the fence. She grabbed ahold of the bent wire frame and hauled her body up, slipping through the gap and not even caring as the jagged edges tore at her clothing and skin. She lifted her body outside the arena, and as soon as her feet hit solid ground, she released her grip on time.

As she did, sound returned to the world again and Eliot crashed through the fence on the opposite side. Max felt the last of her powers leave her body, and knew with absolute certainty that she was at her limit. She was liable to fall unconscious at any minute. She needed to find Chloe, and fast.

 _Chloe._ Where was Chloe?

Ignoring the monster's pitiful whines and howls as it struggled to free itself from the wire mesh, Max looked around the outside of the arena. No sign of Chloe. Her vision blurred. No, no, _no_! She couldn't lose her now, not when they were so close...

Footsteps. A pair of solid leather boots. Not combat boots. Who...?

"I gotta say," came the dark, growling drawl of Damon Merrick, as he approached Max. "Ya really defied my expectations, Black Butterfly. Here I thought you two were a couple of posers. Well, that _you_ were, anyway. The other one, not so much, but we got history. I'm sure you knew that already."

For the first time, Max noticed he was dragging something behind him. Her eyes widened as she beheld the unconscious form of Chloe Price, who was being held by the back of her shirt in Damon's left hand.

His right hand swung freely, and as he raised it up, Max saw that he was holding a high-caliber pistol in his hand. He waved the barrel of the gun nonchalantly towards her.

"Tonight's been fun, but play time's over. It's time to call it a night."

Max's thoughts were sluggish, like her body. She was out of time. Chloe was unconscious, and there was nothing she could do. Damon was going to shoot both of them. This was it, then.

A roar echoed from inside the arena, and Max blearily looked over and spotted the enormous form of monster-Eliot had disentangled itself from the wire fence and was charging straight towards them. Damon redirected the pistol away from Max and pointed it at the wolf's head. A loud explosion echoed throughout the arena as Damon used his hand cannon to blow a hole directly through the monster's skull. It collapsed on the edge of the arena, pooling blood onto the concrete.

Darkness clouded Max's vision as her exhaustion threatened to overtake her. As she desperately tried to cling on to consciousness, her gaze drifted upwards, towards the VIP box. The second figure she had seen moving in the shadows was now standing on the balcony, a disappointed look on his face as he surveyed the wrecked arena and the corpse of the monster. As he looked down on the scene, his eyes locked with Max's, and she felt a flash of recognition.

 _What's Nathan Prescott doing here?_ Was the last thought in her mind as she fell into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no! What will become of our heroes now?!?!?
> 
> Thanks as always for reading.
> 
> Who else here is beyond hyped for Life is Strange 2? So ready to fall in love with an all-new cast and get emotionally destroyed all over again. Excited to expand on the LiS universe and find out how it connects to the first game.


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